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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 










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THE MEN’S CLASS IN ACTION 


F. HARVEY MORSE 


















THE MEN’S CLASS 
IN ACTION 


BY 

F. HARVEY MORSE 

• it 

SUPERINTENDENT, MAPLEWOOD BAPTIST SUNDAY SCHOOL, 
ST. LOUIS, AND ADULT DIVISION SUPERINTENDENT, 

ST. LOUIS COUNTY SUNDAY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION 


ILLUSTRATED 
WITH FORMS AND CHARTS 





) ”> i 


a 


) 

5 



NEW 



YORK 


GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 


3 




& 

< 


COPYRIGHT, 1923, 

BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



h v 

THE MEN’S CLASS IN ACTION. II 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

MM-3'23 

©C1A704421 

-V -» j 



TO MY WIFE 


IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF HER 
SYMPATHETIC COOPERATION 
THIS VOLUME IS 
AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 





PREFACE 


This volume was planned with one definite pur¬ 
pose in mind—to furnish “first-aid” to all officers 
of the organized Men’s Bible Class. 

In most of the books on Adult work now before 
Church School workers, the place of the Teacher is 
magnified—and rightly so. Unfortunately, while 
the work of the teacher has been given emphasis, 
that of the other class officers has not been given 
the attention to which it is properly entitled. 

Nine of the fifteen chapters of this volume are 
devoted to the work of officers other than the 
Teacher—men upon whom the responsibility for the 
continued existence of the class depends. The 
author believes that every class office is important— 
otherwise it has no justification for being. He be¬ 
lieves that only as the work of all the officers is em¬ 
phasized, will Christian Churches develop that lay 
leadership through which the kingdoms of this world 
will be transformed into the Kingdom of God. 

No attempt has been made in this volume to treat 
exhaustively the subject of Adult Bible Class Peda¬ 
gogy—the Teacher of the Men’s Class is referred 
to the splendid treatments contained in the books 

vii 



viii Preface 

suggested in the Bibliography. For the sake of 
completeness, the work of the Teacher is sum¬ 
marized in two chapters and two additional chap¬ 
ters are devoted to the subject of the class study 
course. Even in these chapters the writer’s pur¬ 
pose has been to supplement rather than to duplicate 
the work of previous writers—to add certain back¬ 
ground material essential to teaching success. 

If this book stimulates a greater interest in the 
work of the Organized Bible Class among men—if 
it gives the officers a clearer vision of the mighty 
possibilities of the Men’s Class movement—if it 
motivates them to such action as will truly vitalize 
the class—then it will have abundantly justified its 
existence. 

The writer acknowledges his indebtedness to the 
writers of the works listed in the Bibliographies; to 
Dr. H. E. Tralle, a pioneer of higher ideals in Adult 
Class Work; to Chester J. Prince, St. Louis Lay 
Adult Specialist, for valuable suggestions incorpo¬ 
rated; to Howard G. Colwell, for ten years teacher 
of the Third Baptist Agoga Class, St. Louis, who 
most nearly fulfills the writer’s ideals for the Men’s 
Class Teacher; and to those classes that have so 
kindly furnished forms, advertising, etc., for pur¬ 
pose of illustration. 

F. Harvey Morse. 

Maplewood, Missouri. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 


I 

Organizing to Serve .... 

i 5 

II 

Equipment. 

33 

III 

The Class Teacher. 

4 i 

IV 

The Teacher and the Class . 

54 

V 

Principles of Study Course Selection 

69 

VI 

Building the Study Course . 

79 

vvn 

Executive Leadership in the Class . 

100 

VIII 

The Class's Spiritual Service 

116 

vrx 

Bringing in the Men .... 

130 

LX 

Holding Them. 

146 

XI 

Class Records. 

156 

XII 

Class Finances. 

169 

XIII 

Developing the Social Instincts 

181 

XIV 

What the Librarian Does . 

199 

XV 

Advertising the Class .... 

209 


Appendices 

A ADDRESSES YOU NEED TO KNOW . . 237 

B CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS . . 238 

C A STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE . . 245 
















ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIGURE 

I CLASS INVITATION. 

^2 vice-president’s PROSPECT CARD . 

3 CALL REPORT FOR VISITOR .... 

4 MEMBER’S INDIVIDUAL WEEKLY REPORT 
V$ SIX-POINT CLASS RECORD CARD 

6 SECRETARY’S PERMANENT ATTENDANCE RECORD 

7 ENROLLMENT CARD. 

8 ILLUSTRATING A SIMPLE SYSTEM OF CLASS 

ACCOUNTS. 

9 TREASURER’S INDIVIDUAL COLLECTION RECORD 

10 SUGGESTION CARD FOR ENTERTAINER 

11 FRONT PAGE OF A CLASS BULLETIN 

12 FRONT COVER OF AN EIGHT-PAGE CLASS PAPER 

13 AN INSIDE PAGE FROM AN EIGHT-PAGE CLASS 

PAPER . 

14 ADVERTISING HANGER FOR USE IN STORES 

AND OTHER PLACES WHERE MEN CONGRE¬ 
GATE . 

15 REPRINT OF A SPECIAL ADDRESS USED FOR AD¬ 

VERTISING THE CLASS—ONE WAY FOR A 
CLASS TO GIVE “SAMPLES” .... 

1 6 COVER OF AN ADVERTISING BOOKLET 


PAGE 

143 

144 

153 

158 

159 

160 
l62 

177 

178 
189 

215 

217 

221 

226 

227 

228 


XI 



xii Illustrations 

FIGURE 

17 “TICKLER”—FIRST OF A SERIES OF DIRECT 

MAIL PIECES. 

18 SECOND PIECE OF A MAILING SERIES 


19 

THIRD 

PIECE 

OF 

A 

CLASS 

CAMPAIGN 

• 

• 

20 

FINAL 

PIECE 

OF 

A 

MAIL 

CAMPAIGN 




PAGE 

230 

231 

233 

234 


THE MEN’S CLASS IN ACTION 



THE MEN’S CLASS 
IN ACTION 


Chapter One 

ORGANIZING TO SERVE 

i: MEN IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 

B ROADLY speaking, men in the Sunday School 
may be divided into three classes—each class 
demanding distinctive treatment. 

Young Men 

First there are the younger men—those whose 
ages range from eighteen to twenty-five—the period 
of latter adolescence. 

“From various studies it seems clear that there 
is a time of special religious interest at twenty. 
Less than one-sixth of the conversions studied took 
place after twenty. One-half of these, again, were 
before twenty-five. The chances are a thousand to 
one against conversion after thirty.” 1 The impor- 

1 Weigle, “The Pupil,” Chapter VI. 

15 



16 The Mens Class in Action 

tance of reaching the men of these ages with vital, 
appealing teaching surely must be apparent to all 
Christian workers. The ideals of this period, and 
the characteristic instincts which show themselves 
at this time, call for distinct types of management, 
teachings and activities, if the young men are to be 
held in the School. 

The religion of this period is a concrete religion 
—one that has its natural outpouring in religious 
activity. Unless he be exceptional, narrow theories, 
tiresome discussions of controversial points and ob¬ 
scure passages of scripture have no interest for the 
young man. For him there must be practical teach¬ 
ings of Christian living—teachings that apply to the 
problems confronting him daily. 

How is my religion going to help me in my daily 
work? What bearing has it on my recreations? 
What relation to the choice of companions and 
friends? Does it play a part in the selection of a 
life partner and the building of a Christian home? 
Has religion a place in the modern industrial, social 
and political order? These are the questions that 
he asks and by which he tests his religion. 

In winning and holding the young man, the Sun¬ 
day School must be guided by the psychological 
characteristics of the period. It must see the 
flowering social-sex instincts; it must use the natu¬ 
ral groupings taking place among its young men; 


17 


Organizing to Serve 

it must take advantage of the natural interest in 
organizations, by giving him the right sort of or¬ 
ganization in the Sunday Schools; it must recog¬ 
nize the developing traits of leadership and direct 
them into fields of service. 

Early Maturity 

In the second place there are the men of early 
maturity—those from twenty-six to thirty-five. In 
this group are found a large number of young mar¬ 
ried men, who because of greater home responsi¬ 
bilities are unable to carry on the elaborate activities 
of the younger men. On the whole the men are 
more settled—their viewpoints are more mature— 
responsibility has stabilized life and character. The 
practical application of Christianity to modern prob¬ 
lems appeals strongly to these men, who in many 
cases are just on the threshold of business success. 
For best results, men between these ages should be 
grouped in a class by themselves. 

Later Maturity 

Third, come the men of full maturity—those 
thirty-six and over. This group includes those men 
who have already achieved a certain amount of 
business and social success. During these later 
years social Christianity still has its appeal, but there 
is also a growth of interest among many, in Bible 


18 The Mens Class in Action 

doctrines and the more abstract discussions of 
Biblical theology. 

The small school should, if possible, have adult 
classes graded by these three divisions at least. If 
only two classes may be had, better unite the ages 
from twenty-five and up, giving the men from 
eighteen to twenty-five a separate organization. Of 
course in larger schools it is possible to sub-divide 
the several groups on a basis of education, occupa¬ 
tion, and religious interest—and it’s very desirable 
that this be done. 

II: APPEALING TO MEN THROUGH ORGANIZATION 

As the boy enters the period of latter adolescence, 
he becomes conscious that organization exists every¬ 
where—in the home, in the high school and college, 
in the social order, in business, in the great political 
parties, in the fraternal orders and in religion. He 
feels within himself the surge of a dynamic that 
assures him that he, too, is capable of doing great 
things. He wants to have some part in the work 
of the Church and Sunday School—not be merely 
a passive on-looker. As he develops in business he 
will respect more and more the church which adopts 
business methods in its work. If the church and 
school will but recognize this potential force, har¬ 
ness it early and keep it harnessed by means 


Organizing to Serve 19 

of class organization the problem of getting and 
holding men will cease to be a problem. Organiza¬ 
tion, while not a panacea for all ills, is a substan¬ 
tial foundation upon which may be built a sound 
structure that will be of inestimable value to the 
School, the Church, the community and the King¬ 
dom. 

Characteristics of Organization 1 
An organization usually has a small beginning. 
Christ started Christianity that way. The fact that 
only a few men are interested in an organized Bible 
Class should deter no one from starting such a class. 
No class need remain small for long. 

An organization needs care and nurture in the 
beginning. So does the men’s Bible Class. The 
manner of cultivating the young, delicate religious 
plant will be outlined in later chapters. 

The element of time must be considered—large 
organizations are not built in a day. Patience is 
an essential in building the men’s Bible Class—on 
the part of the teacher in planning how best to 
appeal to the members, and on the part of members 
who look for rapid growth. 

Organizations go from the simple to the complex, 
as they strive to accommodate themselves to their 

1 For the basis of this statement regarding organization, 
and the one on page 74, “Balancing the Course,” the author 
is indebted to Mr. C. J. Prince, Adult Specialist, St. Louis. 


20 The Mens Class in Action 

environment. As the class grows in health and 
strength by meeting local conditions its organization 
is necessarily expanded. 

The value of the organization to the individual 
lies in the spirit of interdependence developed. 
Paul shows the value of this characteristic in his 
wonderful discourse on the relation of the parts of 
the body (I Cor. 12) ; Christ emphasizes it in His 
picture of the vine and its branches (John 15 : 1-8). 
Cooperation among members induces smoothness of 
action; if it is lacking an organization soon ceases 
to function. 

The common fate of organization is death, yet 
through death the living plant is reproduced to 
flower more beautifully. The test of the organized 
Bible Class is that it is dying weekly, as its members 
go out into the larger work of the church and 
community. But through death comes new life. 

The Value of Class Organization 

Successful business is built upon a basis of proper 
organization; so, too, is the successful Bible Class. 
Organization is conducive to class growth—the his¬ 
tory of classes in all sections is proof of this state¬ 
ment. The invitation of a teacher may secure 
members for the class, but systematic efforts of the 
members themselves secure maximum results. Men 
can usually reach other men when all efforts of 


21 


Organizing to Serve 

teacher and Pastor have failed. Organized co¬ 
operative recruiting methods are much more effec¬ 
tive than haphazard individual endeavor. The 
properly organized class must grow! 

The organized class is a permanent class. The 
class that is held together by the personality of a 
teacher or by some force outside of the class itself, 
will very likely cease to exist if the attracting forces 
are removed. The organized class has taken upon 
its own shoulders the responsibility for its continued 
existence. Time and again classes losing their 
teachers have either secured new teachers or fur¬ 
nished them from the ranks of the class itself— 
striking evidence that the class organization is more 
than a meaningless form and that the class is ac¬ 
tually training for broader service. The organized 
class develops, through its efforts to attain an end, 
class loyalty and a class spirit which serves as an 
incentive to greater activity. 

The organized class provides work for every 
member, and yet the work is so evenly distributed 
that there is no burden upon any individual. At 
the same time the men's interest is being held be¬ 
cause they have a definite responsibility in connec¬ 
tion with the class work. The organized class pro¬ 
vides a definite aim toward which all the members 
may work. It gathers the scattered, latent forces ex¬ 
isting in its membership and molds them into a com- 


22 The Mens Class in Action 

munity force for good. Unity of purpose and effort 
results in a spiritual and social cohesion that would 
be otherwise impossible. 

Through the organized class the social needs of 
the men of the school, church and community may 
be met. Opportunity for social expression is fur¬ 
nished through the medium of social evenings, 
group meetings, athletics and the like. 

The men’s class is not usually organized spe¬ 
cifically as a teacher training class, yet the training 
received does serve the men as a foundation when 
entering upon the larger work of the Church and the 
school. In many churches practically all the Sun¬ 
day School officers, and a large number of Church 
officers, are graduates of the men’s classes. 

Ill: FORM OF ORGANIZATION 

Departmental or Committee Planf 

Standing committees usually stand and that’s all. 
Experience has demonstrated beyond question the 
superiority of the Departmental Plan of class or¬ 
ganization, by which the responsibility for the work 
of a department is placed in the hands of an 
individual. Dr. P. E. Burroughs states succinctly 
the distinct practical advantages of this form: 1 

1 P. E. Burroughs, “The Present Day Sunday School,” 
page 178. 


23 


Organizing to Serve 

“i. This plan has the advantage of simplicity. 
There is a single line of assignment instead of a 
double line. This is especially advantageous in 
small classes. 

“2. It has the advantage of definiteness. In all 
cases one individual is held responsible for assigned 
duties. 

“3. It is flexible. If the class is large, and its 
work intricate and varied, the number of officers 
may be increased and each officer may utilize other 
members as needed.” 

Organization Outline 

The work of the class is divided into departments, 
each under the direction of an officer. The follow- 
ing scheme of organization is one used by many 
classes with excellent results—all phases of class 
work are thoroughly covered. 1 

The teacher has charge of the teaching; 

The president is the executive head of the class 
and its spiritual leader; 

The vice president is the class recruiting officer 
—he secures the new members; 

The secretary keeps the class records and at¬ 
tends to business correspondence; 

1 This scheme of organization was originated by Dr. H. E. 
Tralle, Sunday School Specialist. The first class of this type 
was organized in 1905 at Third Baptist Church, St. Louis, and 
is still active. 




24 The Mens Class in Action 

The treasurer handles the class finances; 

The visitor looks after the absentees—keeps the 
members coming; 

The entertainer ministers to the social needs of 
the class; 

The librarian encourages the art of good read¬ 
ing; 

The reporter is the class publicity man. 

These officers constitute the class executive board. 
The individual duties of the several officers are dis¬ 
cussed fully in subsequent chapters. It is not at all 
essential that the class work be divided exactly as 
above indicated, nor that the same names be used 
for the officers. Some classes, for example, desig¬ 
nate a first, second and third Vice President to care 
for the work of enlargement, fellowship, and the 
religious activities, respectively. 

If a class is starting with but few members, fewer 
officers will be needed to care for its work. One 
class of busy men organized with a Teacher, a 
President in charge of executive and social work, a 
Vice President in charge of membership and a Sec¬ 
retary-Treasurer who also handled the publicity. 
Naturally, as the class grows, officers will be added 
until a full corps are at work. The point to be kept 
in mind at all times is to have one responsible head 
of every department of work in which the class is 
engaged. 


Organizing to Serve 


25 


Assistants 

The departmental plan of organization assures the 
development of executive ability. No departmental 
head is ever expected to actually do all the work of 
his department. He is rather the planner-in-chief. 
Emphasis is placed on the importance of giving 
every man work to do—and holding him responsible 
for it. The department heads therefore appoint, 
from the men not elected to office, assistants to 
handle specific phases of the departmental activities. 
These assistants, being held responsible for the exe¬ 
cution of definite work, receive valuable experience 
which develops their abilities and trains them to 
become class officers later. Give a man a real job 
to challenge his ability and the class has a strong 
hold on that man. 

Maintaining Age Limits 

All men’s classes, regardless of name or plan of 
organization, should adhere to the age limits set out 
at the beginning of this chapter. The class should 
be gaining and losing all the time—gaining young 
men from promotions within the school and by re¬ 
cruiting from the community—losing the older men 
to positions of service in the school and church, and 
by promotions into the older classes. It is only 
when every effort is made to maintain proper age 
limits that best work can be done. 


26 The Mens Class in Action 

Frequently it happens that proper effort is not 
made to build from the bottom with young blood, 
as the members grow old. The result is that the 
class itself grows old—possibly half of the members 
may be older than the top age limit. In such cases 
it is exceedingly difficult to try to build from the 
bottom. The younger men have not the interest 
that they would have were all the members their 
own ages—the older men find that it is virtually 
impossible for them to bring in the younger. 
Drastic measures will then be necessary to instill 
new life into the organization. 

Two such cases have recently come to this writer’s 
attention. In one case the class numbered nearly 
three hundred members and had an average attend¬ 
ance of about one hundred and twenty-five. Of this 
membership, possibly one hundred were older than 
thirty years, while the youngest members were 
eighteen. Under the leadership of a tactful Sunday 
School Superintendent the older men withdrew 
from the class and organized the Business Men’s 
Class. The two classes were then able to build 
much more successfully than if they had continued 
to work in the same class. 

The other class had a membership of thirty, of 
which only three or four were under twenty-five 
years of age. There was in the same school a 
Senior class composed of eighteen year old boys. 


27 


Organizing to Serve 

In this case the younger men were promoted to the 
older class. The older members of the class then 
withdrew and organized an Alumni Class, thus con¬ 
tinuing for them the sentiment connected with a 
previous ten years’ existence. 

It is a mistake to try to promote an entire younger 
class into a class where the majority of the mem¬ 
bers are considerably older than those promoted. 
The younger members will lose interest and finally 
the class and school will lose the young men. Pro¬ 
motions should be regular from the younger class 
into the older—each year at the regular promotion 
day. Then the class membership will always be 
congenial. 

Relation to the Sunday School 

The men’s class, as are all other classes, is an 
integral part of the School. The class should, if 
possible, meet with the school or the department of 
which it is a part, for either the opening or closing 
worship period—and it is usually always possible. 
The opening period will almost always be found 
more convenient for the class. 

When the class does not meet with the school it 
is very easy for the members to forget that it is 
part of a larger organization. That feeling shows 
itself by the attitude of members toward matters 
of interest to the whole school. For instance, in 


28 The Mens Class in Action 


one such class there were a number of members who 
could not understand why any of the Sunday morn¬ 
ing offerings should go to the school. This class 
was already keeping the collections of alternate Sun¬ 
days, through a special arrangement by which the 
class purchased its own supplies. Such an arrange¬ 
ment is never a good one. It always tends to make 
the class feel independent of the parent body. 

On the other hand the School has its obligation 
to the class. The Church and School should recog¬ 
nize that the men’s class, because of its maturity, 
is entitled to greater liberty of action than the 
younger classes. The class should be allowed a 
longer time for its lesson, which means that the 
members should not be expected to attend the clos¬ 
ing worship, if they attend the opening services. 
The class teacher should not be selected without con¬ 
sulting the desires of the class; and the study course 
should be one built by class representatives in con¬ 
junction with the School’s educational committee. 

The School should also be careful not to “bleed” 
the class of its growing members. In most schools 
it is the custom of the Superintendent in search of 
teachers, to go to the adult classes for both substi¬ 
tutes and regular workers. If the matter is not 
watched it is easy to take away so many of the lead¬ 
ing workers as to cripple the class work of several 
years. The greatest danger is in smaller classes— 


Organizing to Serve 29 

the school must not reduce the class working force 
below the limit of safety. 

Organized Class Aims 

The purpose of the class should be to develop the 
all-round Christian man, through Bible study and 
the vitalizing of Bible teaching in the lives of the 
members. Its ultimate purpose is to win men to 
Christ, and to help them live the Christ life. 

While social plans are essential to successful class 
work, the men’s class is not a social club. It is 
not an athletic club, although athletics are spon¬ 
sored. 

The class is primarily a Bible class and this pur¬ 
pose should not be eclipsed by less important affairs. 
How often do we find classes that are willing to 
spend a hundred dollars to place baseball teams in 
the field, but cannot raise ten dollars for missions? 
Such classes, it is to be feared, have failed to grasp 
the responsibility given them. 

IV: HOW TO ORGANIZE 

Organize Existing Classes 

This is the simplest way of forming a class or¬ 
ganization. The benefits of organization should be 
explained to the class members, literature dis¬ 
tributed and an enthusiasm for organization created. 


30 The Mens Class in Action 

It is well to seek the cooperation of the Pastor and 
the Sunday School Superintendent. This method 
gives a nucleus on which a strong class can be built. 

Organizing a New Class 

First, interest some few men who can see the need 
of an organized Bible Class and build around these 
key men. Aim to interest others than personal 
friends—men from all walks of life. Distribute 
literature freely to those whom you are trying to 
interest. Advertise the purpose of the proposed 
class. Set a date for organization, and a date, per¬ 
haps a month later, at which the privilege of be¬ 
coming a charter member will cease. It is a good 
plan to have a reception for the young men of the 
community, a week or so before the date set for 
organization. At the time of organizing, full de¬ 
tails should again be given to those attending. The 
plan of work, and the place of the officers should 
be thoroughly explained. Then a temporary organi¬ 
zation may be formed, a temporary set of necessary 
officers elected, and a constitutional committee ap¬ 
pointed to draft a Constitution and By-Laws suited 
to the particular needs of the class. Permanent or¬ 
ganization may be perfected after the report of the 
Constitutional committee. The work of the class 
as a Bible Class should start at once. Every or¬ 
ganized class should register with fc its denomina- 


Organizing to Serve 31 

tional Sunday School Board and receive such help 
as may be offered—application blanks are furnished 
by the boards. Remember that numbers at the start 
do not matter if the aim is to grow. 

v: CONCLUSION 

No matter how fine the machine and its fittings, 
nothing will be accomplished if there is no gas in 
the tank, and no one behind the wheel. No men's 
class will run on the momentum of the first meet¬ 
ings—there must be fuel—continued enthusiasm, 
cooperation and a prayer spirit. One man can't 
make a class, but a capable leader will get the best 
out of all the members. The class does not have 
to be a large class to succeed. Given gas and a 
chauffeur, the Ford will often do the work better 
than a Packard and at less expenditure of energy. 
No plan of organization will work itself, but this 
departmental plan when worked brings results and 
makes the class a force for Christianity in the 
community. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Strickland, “The Class Officers and Their Work”: 
(Free Leaflet from Sunday School Board—Southern 
Baptist Convention). 

Adult B. C. Organization —Leaflet International S. S. 
Council. 


32 The Mens Class in Action 

Wood, “Adult Class Study,” Chapter I. 

Strickland & McGlothlin, “Building the Bible Class.” 

First Division, Chapters I, II, III, IV, V. 

Second Division, Chapters I, II, III, IV. 

Barclay, “Adult Worker and His Work,” Chapters I, 
II, III, XX. 

Wells, “The Ideal Adult Class in the Sunday School,” 
Chapters V, VI, XII. 

Blick, “The Adult Department,” Chapters I, II, III, 
IV, V, XII, XIII. 

Bovard, “Adults in the Sunday School,” Chapters I, 
II, III, IV. 

Pearce, “The O. A. B. C.,” Chapters I, II, JII, IV, V. 

Cope, “The Efficient Layman.” 

Bomberger, “The Why and How of the O. A. B. C.” 

Richardson, “The Religious Education of Adoles¬ 
cents,” Chapter XI. 


Chapter Two 


EQUIPMENT 

I.' CLASS ROOM 

G OOD equipment is needed if the men's class 
is to do its best work. A class room is the 
first and by far the most essential requisite. A 
class cannot have the most effective teaching nor 
free discussions if forced to conduct its sessions in 
a main assembly room with a number of other 
classes. The progressive class is not satisfied until 
it has secured the degree of privacy necessary for 
class efficiency. A men’s class can almost always 
find ways of securing at least partial separation 
from the rest of the school. 

One class of men resorted to screens as the best 
available means to secure separation—and they were 
quite effective in at least keeping the eyes from wan¬ 
dering to all parts of the room, and did shut out 
some noise. In another case two men’s classes met 
in one room with screen division walls. Another 
class found that the section of the room behind the 
piano was suitable for class purposes. Frequently 
classes secure the use of a room in a residence, or 
office near the church building. Classes have been 
33 




34 The Mens Class in Action 

known to erect tents for their use during the more 
pleasant weather. Some of the larger men’s classes 
have even erected separate buildings for their 
organizations, which had outgrown the quarters 
allotted to them in the Sunday School building. It 
is usually always possible to find some way of im¬ 
proving undesirable class room conditions. 

When a class room has been secured, it should 
be kept free from unnecessary interruptions. A 
certain class had a room so located that any one 
wishing to go to the Junior Department had to pass 
through the class room and down an uncarpeted 
stairway located in it. Often several boys at a time 
would find it necessary (?) to take that path at 
intervals during the course of the Sunday lesson. 
The same room also contained a water cooler for 
use of the whole school. Needless to say that the 
teacher was annoyed and the teaching of but little 
effect. Such conditions should not be tolerated for 
a moment. A frank talk with the Superintendent 
will usually result in improvement of conditions. 


II: CLASS ROOM FURNISHINGS 

A class room containing nothing more than 
enough chairs for the members is much better than 
no class room. However, the meetings will be more 
enjoyable and interest will be greater if some effort 


Equipment 35 

is put forth to make the room comfortable and 
home-like. 

The first addition to the class room furnishings 
should be a rug or carpet. The appearance of a 
room will be entirely changed by the addition of 
even a moderately priced rug. Not only that, but 
the added quiet will contribute greatly toward a 
worshipful atmosphere. 

Good pictures should be used as liberally as the 
finances of the class will allow. Reproductions of 
the best art of the world is now available at low 
cost. A few framed Perry Pictures, Copley or 
Medici prints 1 add wonderfully to the attractiveness 
of the class room. Photographs taken by class 
members on outings and group pictures of the class 
have an added interest because of the personal 
associations. 

A small table should be provided for the use of 
the presiding officer or teacher. The Secretary 
needs a desk and the necessary card index trays, 
to enable him to keep complete permanent records. 


hi: teaching equipment 

The first item under this head is of course a num¬ 
ber of American Standard Revised Bibles. There 

1 For catalogue write Perry Picture Co., Malden, Mass.; 
Curtis & Cameron, Boston. 


36 The Mens Class in Action 

should be enough for all those attending, as the men 
of to-day seldom carry their own Bibles. The dis¬ 
tinctive class appearance will be maintained if the 
class emblem is stamped on the cover. 

Every Teacher longs for a good blackboard, one 
on which he can write. Not only is it a valuable 
teaching accessory, but it may be made useful for 
posting notices, reports, etc. 

The importance of the geographical background 
of Biblical history has long been recognized by lead¬ 
ing Sunday School workers. The class should have 
a set of good maps for use in supplementing the 
lessons. A's a minimum the following are sug¬ 
gested, in the order named: 

1. Palestine—New Testament 

2. Palestine—Old Testament 

3. Paul's Missionary Journeys 

4. Old Testament Bible Lands 

5. Denominational Missionary Map 

6. Inter-denominational World Missionary Map. 
Special missionary maps may also be purchased 
for a few cents and used in connection with mis¬ 
sion studies of individual fields. 

S t ere optic on—S tereoscope 

Any class will find the purchase of a stereopticon 
to be a splendid investment. Such an instrument is 
invaluable for use in connection with study courses 


Equipment 37 

—missions, church history, Biblical geography, so¬ 
cial service, etc. It may be used for special day 
programs at Christmas, Thanksgiving, patriotic 
days—given for the entire school or church. It is 
a means of bringing the work of the class before 
the church and community by public, illustrated 
lectures. A class and its church and school will 
miss many opportunities for service if such an in¬ 
strument is not available. A stereoscope may also 
be made a valuable aid to those in charge of the 
social affairs of the class. 

Slides for use with the various types of lessons 
are easily secured. Most public schools have col¬ 
lections which can be borrowed; the State Univer¬ 
sities usually have extensive collections which may 
be had by simply paying transportation charges. 
Many public libraries have collections for the use 
of their patrons. The denominational mission 
boards have slides illustrating all the fields in which 
they work, which are rented at a nominal charge of 
one or two dollars. Slides may also be rented from 
commercial bureaus of which may be mentioned the 
following: 

Keystone View Co., Meadville, Pa. 

Erker Brothers, St. Louis. 

Standard Slide Corporation, New York City. 

Victor Animatograph Co., Davenport, Iowa. 

It is easily possible for class members to prepare 


38 The Mens Class in Action 

many slides themselves, using members’ camera pic¬ 
tures, cartoons, sketches, etc., as a basis. If the 
funds are sufficient, certain slides may be purchased 
and used by the class and church. 

Duplicating Machine 

Uses galore for a duplicating machine, such as the 
Mimeograph or Hectograph, will be found in class 
work—producing special forms for class records, 
circular letters in building attendance, invitations to 
class socials, lesson outlines and most important, a 
class paper. The school and church of which the 
class is part will also find abundant use for such a 
device. By the purchase of such a machine the 
class will not only increase its possibilities of work 
among men, but will be performing a real service 
to its church and school. 

IV: SOCIAL EQUIPMENT 

The amount of social equipment secured will, of 
course, depend upon the financial ability of the class. 
A social room is in some cases desirable—a place 
where the men may gather in the evenings to read, 
to write, to play checkers or chess, to sing, or just 
to chat. Such a room is especially appreciated by 
men who live in boarding houses or in the congested 
districts, by traveling men, and by young men who 


Equipment 39 

like to get out with their chums. If no separate 
room can be secured for social purposes it is 
usually possible to use the class room as both a 
study room and a social hall. All that is necessary 
is to remove some of the chairs and to provide a 
table, literature, games, etc. 

A' gymnasium is desirable, but can usually be best 
established in connection with the whole school. 
The class might well start a movement among the 
churches for the establishment of a community 
gymnasium for use of all the men of the neighbor¬ 
hood. The class should have a good piano in its 
room. Too often the sole music available for the 
men’s class is a worn-out organ which had better 
be put into the school historical museum. Much 
pleasure may be derived from a talking machine 
which need not be an expensive model. 

All this may seem to be an elaborate plan of 
equipment. Many classes will be able to have just 
a few of the items mentioned at the start. There 
is no reason though for always remaining satisfied 
with the minimum. Every class should always plan 
to better equip itself for doing better work. Money 
spent for good equipment is an investment that will 
repay itself many times in the lives that have been 
strengthened through the activities of the class. 


40 The Mens Class in Action 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Strickland & McGlothlin, “Building the Bible 
Class,” First Division, Chapter VII. 

Moninger, “How to Build Up an A. B. C.,” Chapter 
XI. 


Chapter Three 


THE CLASS TEACHER 

i: IMPORTANCE OF A RIGHT SELECTION 

T HE function of the Men’s Bible Class is to 
teach men that they may live lives that will 
be in harmony with the life principles of Jesus 
Christ. It is therefore essential that a wise choice 
be made in the selection of the Class Teacher. 

For best results the Teacher of the men’s class 
should be a man. Particularly is this true in classes 
of the younger men, those from eighteen to twenty- 
five. Only a man can lead men of this age in the 
discussion of their vital life problems. Of course 
there is no valid objection to having a short course 
of study conducted by a woman who is a specialist 
in some field of Christian activity. 

The Pastor of the church is not often the best 
man to select as the class Teacher. He comes be¬ 
fore the church with two sermons each Sunday— 
another appearance before the men might prove 
monotonous. Furthermore, the Pastor should be 
left free for service in other departments of the 
school where he may be needed. 

Usually the best Teacher for the men’s class is a 
41 


42 The Mens Class in Action 


prominent layman—a business man, merchant or 
teacher. One of the largest classes in the country 
is taught by an official of a large wholesale grocery 
house; another class is taught by a prominent pub¬ 
lic school educator; still others by managers of 
large firms, advertising men, lawyers and engineers. 
Such men because of their Christian business in¬ 
fluence are better able to reach and hold other men. 


ii : the teacher’s personality 

There are two prerequisites to successful teaching 
—personality and training. If the Teacher also has 
natural teaching ability so much the better, but 
good teaching does not depend upon natural ability. 
Neither is training in the mechanics of teaching 
a guarantee of teaching success. The resultful 
Teacher is the one who by the sheer force of his per¬ 
sonality brings his training into action and appeals 
irresistibly to those whom he teaches. The power 
and ability to become friendly with one’s fellows 
and to be liked by them; the ability to influence and 
to lead; the manner in which one carries himself 
among others; all these are included in the word 
“personality.” 

The Teacher must be a man of highest personal 
character. He must make a vital appeal not only 
by his verbal teaching, but also by his example of 


43 


The Class Teacher 

Christian living. He must be earnest and sincere. 
Nothing causes a teacher to lose popularity more 
rapidly than the slightest exhibition of insincerity. 
“Do as I do,” should be his motto—not “Do as I 
say.” 

The Teacher who makes good in the men’s class 
must be bubbling over with enthusiasm. Drowsy 
teaching will not make live, active Christians. If 
the Teacher cannot develop enthusiasm on a certain 
course of lessons, he had better secure a special 
teacher for that particular series, or even drop it 
altogether rather than to chill the enthusiasm of the 
members. If the Teacher is truly enthusiastic, his 
spirit will be caught by the class members; and in¬ 
teresting lessons are certain to result. 

The Teacher should be a friend to every member 
of the class. The personal touch loses none of its 
charm when applied to adults. The successful 
Teacher will see that he knows each member. He 
will chat with all that he can before and after class 
sessions; he will learn the names of the members; 
he will call at their homes as far as time will per¬ 
mit; he will call up members and ask their advice 
or their opinions; he will be tactful and considerate 
toward them. Such a Teacher will find his influence 
with the class members growing stronger week by 
week. 

On the Teacher rests the responsibility of bringing 


44 The Mens Class in Action 

men upon whom the duties of a godly life have 
rested but lightly, to a knowledge of the meaning 
of true Christianity. It is his problem to show that 
religion is a vital every-day element and not merely 
a Sunday recreation or dissipation. He will be 
called upon to show how the teachings of Jesus can 
be applied to our every-day life. As he may often 
be asked to explain or defend the principles upon 
which his denomination has been founded, it fol¬ 
lows that the Teacher should be a member of the 
church of which his class is a part. He must know 
for what his denomination stands and why. The 
class Teacher must be at once a real man and a real 
Christian. 

A neat personal appearance is absolutely essential 
to the Teacher if the respect of his students is to be 
maintained. Fine clothing is not necessary, but the 
clothing that the Teacher does possess should be 
scrupulously clean; his trousers should be pressed 
and his shoes polished. It might seem unnecessary 
to bring this matter to the attention of teachers, yet 
this writer has seen teachers who have been just so 
negligent of their personal appearance—and who 
have failed. 

Detracting mannerisms should be carefully 
guarded against. A certain Teacher had a habit of 
concluding almost every statement with the ques¬ 
tion, “Is it not?” This became so noticeable that 


The Class Teacher 45 

the members took to counting the number of “is it 
nots” during the course of the lesson. The same 
Teacher, although teaching in a room 12x12 feet, 
where he could be easily seen and heard by every 
one, formed the habit of walking back and forth 
across the front of the room during the entire les¬ 
son period. Naturally the attention of the class is 
attracted to mannerisms such as these, rather than 
to the matter in the lesson. 

Finally, don’t apologize if you would maintain 
teaching prestige. Teachers often preface the les¬ 
son with such a remark as, “I am very sorry, but 
I was so busy last week that I had no time to pre¬ 
pare a lesson, but we’ll try to get along as well as 
possible.” Will the class expect anything inspiring 
following such an introduction? With the proper 
general training a Teacher will ofttimes be able to 
give a very presentable lesson even though circum¬ 
stances prevented thorough preparation. Many 
otherwise good lessons have been spoiled by apolo¬ 
getic preludes. 

Ill: the teacher’s training 

The thinking Teacher will quickly realize that 
special training is necessary to effectively teach 
classes of men composed possibly of college students 
and graduates, successful business men, and men 
with only a limited amount of education or train- 


46 The Mens Class in Action 

ing. The Teacher must know how to appeal to the 
intellectual element as well as how to bring truths 
to the level of the other members. The Teacher can 
give to his pupils only that which he has made his 
own through experience and training. 

Training in the Bible 

Since the Bible is the basis of the class teaching, 
it follows that the Teacher must have Bible train¬ 
ing. He should have a knowledge of the entire 
Bible in its broad outlines. He should know the 
message of the different books of the Bible and how 
they came to be written. He will be familiar with 
the lives of the great Biblical characters, especially 
the life of the Master Teacher. He must under¬ 
stand the great fundamental doctrines which the 
Bible teaches—God, man, sin, salvation, faith, 
morality, Christ, etc. His mind, too, should be able 
to grasp the missionary and social message of this 
Book of Books. 

Familiarity with the contents of the Bible is not 
enough for the well-trained Teacher. Certain re¬ 
lated subjects are necessary for purpose of sup¬ 
plementing and illustrating the Biblical material. 
Every Teacher should know how our Bible has come 
down to us. Such information will help him settle 
many troublesome questions. Church history is 
exceedingly valuable. Knowing this subject, the 


The Class Teacher 47 

Teacher is equipped to correct many wrong concep¬ 
tions about the rise of denominations, about the 
extension of the Kingdom, about the many so-called 
“new religions.” Having this knowledge, he can 
present a victorious Christianity in a new light. 

Biblical geography is valuable in the presentation 
of many Bible lessons. The literature of a people 
can only be understood through a knowledge of its 
history and customs. These in turn depend largely 
upon the location and surface features of the coun¬ 
try. If the Teacher knows the geography of Pales¬ 
tine and its neighboring Bible lands he will find a 
new interest in teaching the old Bible stories. Very 
closely related to this subject is the study of Oriental 
manners and customs. 

The progressive Teacher will not be satisfied with 
his Bible training until he has studied the results 
of Christianity in the world. He will want to know 
about the development of Christian missions—he 
will want definite information about the place of 
his denomination in world evangelization. He will 
want to see how Christianity is proving its teach¬ 
ings through modern philanthropy and social 
service. These subjects are truly Bible subjects— 
and such as carry a striking appeal to the men of 
to-day. 

Knowing how to use the Bible is the most im¬ 
portant part of Bible training. The Teacher must 


48 The Mens Class in Action 

be able to find the things he wants in the Bible when 
he wants them. He should be thoroughly familiar 
with the use of the Bible dictionary, the con¬ 
cordance, the commentary, the subject-index and 
the cross references. 

The Science of Teaching 

Next in importance to Bible training is training 
in the principles of religious education. It is im¬ 
perative that the Teacher understand the character¬ 
istics of the men whom he is teaching. He should 
know the laws of habit formation, the laws of 
memory training, the place of the imagination in 
life, and how to secure and hold attention. In 
short, he should have had a good course in ele¬ 
mentary educational psychology of the adult period. 
Fortunately among the Adult Specialization Units of 
the New Standard Teacher Training Course there 
is a volume on this subject. 

This should be followed by training in pedagogy. 
The Teacher should be familiar with the methods of 
teaching and the relative value of the different 
methods. He must realize that the student is a part 
of the teaching process. He should perfect himself 
in the use of questions so as to be able to encourage 
discussion. The ability to make simple blackboard 
illustrations will be of considerable help in teaching. 


49 


The Class Teacher 

The Teacher's Library 
The importance of the teacher’s working library 
cannot be overestimated. The foresighted Teacher 
will gradually build for himself such a library of 
the best books on the subjects of Bible study, psy¬ 
chology and pedagogy, class organization and class 
methods for Seniors and Adults. The addition of 
just one book every three months will result in 
greatly added teaching efficiency. At the start he 
should plan to have at least a good one-volume 
Bible dictionary, such as Hastings’; a one-volume 
commentary—Dummelow’s, for instance; a work 
on psychology such as James’ “Talks to Teachers 
on Psychology,” or Pyle’s “Principles of Educa¬ 
tional Psychology”; and a book on adult methods, 
one of the best being Strickland and McGlothlin, 
“Building the Bible Class.” The following is sug¬ 
gestive of what the Teacher should plan ultimately 
to include in his library: 

1. The Bible—American Standard Revision. 

2. Harmony of the Gospels—Stevens & Burton. 

3. Bible Dictionary—Hastings, 1 volume. 

4. The One-Volume Bible Commentary—Dum- 

melow. 

5. Comprehensive Concordance—Walker. 

6. Building the Bible Class—Strickland & Mc¬ 

Glothlin. 

(These six books are virtually indispensable) 


50 The Men’s Class in Action 

7. The Adult Worker and His Work—Barclay. 

8. The Ideal Adult Class—Wells. 

9. Adult Class Study—Wood. 

10. Training in Christian Service—Cope; and the 

other Adult specialization texts of the New 
Standard Teacher Training Course. 

11. Outlines of Educational Psychology—Pyle; or 

Talks to Teachers on Psychology—James. 

12. A Social Theory of Religious Education—Coe. 

13. How to Teach Religion—Betts. 

14. The Religion of a Mature Mind—Coe. 

15. Teaching of Bible Classes—See. 

16. Historical Geography of Bible Lands—Kent. 

17. Short History of the Christian Church—Mon- 

crief. 

18. The Missionary Enterprise—Bliss. 

19. The Religions of the World—Barton. 

20. The Bible in the Making—Smythe. 

21. Ancestry of the English Bible—Price. 

22. The Monuments and the Old Testament— 

Price. 

23. The Story of the New Testament—Goodspeed. 

24. The Heart of the Old Testament—Sampey. 

25. The Blackboard in the Sunday School—Bailey. 

26. Social Task of Christianity—Batten. 

27. Social Teachings of Jesus—Rauschenbusch. 

28. Challenge of the City—Strong; or, Challenge 

of the Country—Fiske. 

29. A good history of the church in which the 

teacher is working. 

30. A good book on the principles of the church 

to which the teacher belongs. 


51 


The Class Teacher 

How to Become a Trained Teacher 

Make up your mind that you want to be trained 
—then that you will be trained. Education is one 
of the things most easily obtained to-day —if you 
really want it. 

No Teacher of a class of men should be satisfied 
with less than the complete New Standard Teacher 
Training Course as a minimum. Training classes 
in the local school or in community schools furnish 
the Teacher who is ambitious to improve in God’s 
work, a wonderful opportunity to secure this train¬ 
ing. 

Correspondence study makes training possible for 
those who cannot attend training classes. Prac¬ 
tically every denominational board now offers the 
complete New Standard Course by correspondence. 
Some—for example, the Northern Baptists through 
their Correspondence Study Department—offer 
more advanced courses in Psychology, Pedagogy, 
Bible, Church History, etc., by the same plan. The 
small charge for text books is usually the only cost 
attached to such courses. The University of Chi¬ 
cago, through the American Institute of Sacred 
Literature, offers some unexcelled courses in Bible 
study at a cost of only one dollar including the text 
book. More advanced courses in both Bible and 
general religious education are offered through the 
University’s regular Extension Division. 


52 The Mens Class in Action 

Sunday School conventions and institutes offer 
such splendid opportunities for securing additional 
training. The successful Teacher must be always 
studying. He should be a Bible student. By obser¬ 
vation he can often learn as much from his pupils 
as from the lesson. Private reading and study will 
result in a marked improvement in a teacher’s 
ability to present lesson truths. The public library 
should prove a never drying fountain head of in¬ 
formation. Workers’ magazines furnish much 
valuable material—the Teacher will subscribe to at 
least one so as to keep abreast with modern meth¬ 
ods of class work. “The Sunday School Worker” 
(Judson Press), and “The Church School” (Ch. 
Schl. Press), are the best magazines of methods 
and inspiration now published, in this writer’s 
opinion. The lesson helps furnished by the school 
to its teachers contain much to help the Teacher. 
Most of the publishing houses now issue special 
helps for men’s classes and for the teachers of them. 

If the Teacher is to be successful in teaching men, 
he must fit himself by broad preparation. If he 
uses only the helps furnished by the school in the 
preparation of his lesson, he is doomed to failure. 
Men want to know too many things that the lesson 
writers may not have mentioned. The price of 
success in Bible teaching is the same as in other 
fields of endeavor—hard work. Yet after all there 


53 


The Class Teacher 

is a joy that comes only from the sense of having 
accomplished the difficult task—this joy is in store 
for the Teacher who makes the sacrifice of time, of 
pleasure, and of self to become thoroughly equipped. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Strickland & McGlothlin, “Building the Bible 
Class,” Second Division, Chapter V. 

Barclay, “The Adult Worker and His Work,” Chap¬ 
ter IV. 

Wells, “The Ideal Adult Class,” Chapter I. 

Blick, “The Adult Department,” Chapters IX, X. 

Betts, “How to Teach Religion.” 

Trumbull, “Teaching and Teachers.” 

Brumbaugh, “Making the Teacher.” 

McElfresh, “The Training of Sunday School Officers 
and Teachers,” Chapters XIII, XV. 

New Standard Teacher Training Course —Adult 
Specialization Units. 


Chapter Four 


THE TEACHER AND THE CLASS 

i: THE LESSON PLAN 

I F the lesson is to make an impression upon the 
men of the class, it must be well planned. Not 
only should the scope of the individual lessons be 
familiar to the Teacher before he attempts to teach, 
but the general outline of the entire course should 
be firmly fixed in his mind before he teaches the 
first lesson. It is desirable that the Teacher prepare 
his outline for the entire course, so that he will be 
placed in the most favorable position to handle dis¬ 
cussion and to avoid those questions which antici¬ 
pate later lessons. If the Teacher does not know 
what material is included in later portions of the 
course many embarrassing situations are likely to 
occur. 

This actual occurrence may be cited as an example 
of how a course should not be planned. The series 
of lessons was on the Book of Daniel with the 
emphasis placed on the life and character of Daniel 
himself. The Teacher in charge of the class gave 
54 


The Teacher and the Class 55 

several very good lectures on the first several chap¬ 
ters of the book, and announced that since the 
course was so interesting, one week would be spent 
on each chapter of the book. When the apocalyptic 
portions of the book were reached the course was 
suddenly cut short with the explanation that all the 
visions taught about the same lesson. This Teacher 
had not even gone to the trouble of balancing in his 
own mind the relative teaching values of the several 
portions of Daniel, nor had he secured the perspec¬ 
tive which a reading of the entire book would have 
given him. 

Each lesson should be planned completely—noth¬ 
ing should be left to chance. The Teacher should 
determine the aim of the individual lesson, and its 
relation to the aim of the whole course. The aim 
should be written down for use when necessary; it 
should be kept in mind throughout the teaching 
period. Then there will be less difficulty in keep¬ 
ing the class discussion on the subject. 

Class discussions themselves should be thor¬ 
oughly planned—questions for the opening period 
should be written down and the final summing up 
of the material outlined. 

In planning lessons in which class members have 
part, it is easily seen that the Teacher must know 
his men. In small classes he will find it compara¬ 
tively easy to know all about all the members. In 


56 The Mens Class in Action 

larger classes much information will be secured in¬ 
directly. The Teacher will find it convenient to list 
all such information on individual cards which he 
keeps for reference. Data about a man’s education, 
occupation, likes and dislikes, hobbies, willingness 
to serve in class work and a record of how he has 
already served is invaluable to the teacher who 
really desires to enlist the men in service. 

The Teacher should prepare written outlines of all 
lessons taught. These serve to establish the sequen¬ 
tial relation of the various points—to make certain 
that no important matter is omitted—to keep the 
Teacher to the subject and within the time limit. It 
will be helpful to class members if the Teacher puts 
a condensed copy of his outline on the blackboard, 
or better still to have typewritten outlines for dis¬ 
tribution. A number of classes regularly publish 
the lesson outlines in the class bulletin. Not only 
do such lesson synopses aid in giving a more con¬ 
nected impression of the lesson, but they also help 
those who keep lesson notes. 

The aim of all Bible teaching is in the end evan¬ 
gelistic. The class exists to win unsaved men to 
Christ and to help those who have found Christ 
live thoroughly Christian lives. The evangelistic 
aim must be kept before the class, the members, and 
the teacher. All courses must be planned in rela¬ 
tion to it. 


The Teacher and the Class 57 


II: METHODS OF TEACHING 

Lecture Method 

This is probably the most used and the least effec¬ 
tive method of teaching men. No provision is 
made for expressional activities on the part of the 
pupil, nor is there much opportunity to test his ap¬ 
preciation of the teaching. 

The lecture method is the only practical method 
in classes of unusually large membership. A 
Teacher can handle more men at a time by lectures 
than in any other way. We must provide some lec¬ 
ture classes for those who will not study, but will 
listen to a weekly lecture by a good speaker. It 
follows that an exceptionally strong Teacher is 
needed to hold the attention by this method of 
teaching. 

Class discussion at the close of the lecture is often 
a means of relieving the monotony of pure lectures. 

Because the lecture method has been used with 
men’s classes is no reason why it should be con¬ 
tinued. There are many men who can and will give 
time to real study. To some the lecture method 
means simply another sermon; such men either will 
not join a lecture class, or will not attend preach¬ 
ing services later. The two services should sup¬ 
plement rather than supplant one another. For 
real teaching efficiency it would be infinitely better 


58 The Mens Class in Action 

for some of our enormously large classes to break 
up into smaller study groups of from twenty-five to 
forty members, each group following courses of 
study selected to meet the needs of the group. It 
would still be possible in the inspirational worship 
periods and socials to preserve the spirit and en¬ 
thusiasm of numbers. 

The Topical Method 

The Teacher assigns to selected members topics to 
be investigated and reported on, one or two weeks 
later in class session. The Teacher’s part in this 
case is to gather the thoughts that have been pre¬ 
sented and to give a resume of the main points of 
the lesson. When this method is used, it is difficult 
to prevent one member from taking too much time. 
Many men are inexperienced in planning talks; they 
don’t know how to select just the vital parts and to 
discard the less important. Hence the assignments 
should be definite, and a time limit should be set for 
presentation. The topical method may be used 
with almost every course. It is particularly suitable 
in connection with courses in social service, mis¬ 
sions, church history, comparative religion, but is 
suitable for supplementing all lessons. 

If the lesson is about the Temple, an architect 
member will be able to throw considerable light on 
the subject from his standpoint. One interested in 


The Teacher and the Class 59 

geography can give the geographical background of 
all lessons. A class studying “The Challenge of 
the City,” as a text, assigned topics for investiga¬ 
tion as follows: “liquor problem,” “the tenement 
evil,” “child labor,” “industrial conditions,” “the 
juvenile court,” all of its own city. One class 
studying comparative religions, used such topics as 
the “Temples of India, Japan, etc.,” “Prayer 
Wheels,” and others similar. A live Teacher will 
be able to find more topics on the subject studied 
than can be used. 

The Study Lesson 

In this type of lesson the Teacher and pupils study 
the lesson together, using Bible Dictionaries, Com¬ 
mentaries and reference books in class. It is suited 
to classes for whom the material is a little too ad¬ 
vanced to be studied to advantage alone. It is a 
good method through which to train a class how to 
study and how to use the Bible. Most classes 
would get much good from one or two real study 
courses each year. Lesson preparation and a lesson 
plan are more important in a course such as this 
than in any other. 

Question and Answer Method . 

Unless the class is actually studying, this method 
is not suited to adults. Questions will of course 


60 The Mens Class in Action 

be used in connection with the discussion method 
of teaching, and in reviews. For this purpose a 
knowledge of how to question is essential—other¬ 
wise the questioning is of no value. As a rule ques¬ 
tions should be not simply memory drill questions, 
but should stimulate thought. They should not 
suggest the answer, nor should they be so involved 
as to leave an obscure meaning. The Teacher should 
write out in advance the questions which he intends 
to use. 

Discussion Method 

This is productive of excellent results, and with 
it all members may have a part in the lesson. 
Subjects should be announced in advance so that 
the members may have time to think them over. 
Interest will be greater if questions are given to sev¬ 
eral men during the week, for purpose of opening 
the discussion. Often the Teacher may outline the 
subject briefly at the beginning of the lesson, and 
then by skillful questioning, develop the discussion. 
Careful preparation is needed in this method. 
Many topics dealing with the application of Chris¬ 
tian principles to modern life may be developed in 
class, as most men do some thinking along those 
lines. Other subjects will call for some advance 
preparation on the part of the members. In all dis¬ 
cussions care must be taken not to accept personal 


The Teacher and the Class 61 

opinions as moral laws. Let the final answer to all 
questions come from the Word of God. 

Debates 

Most study courses will permit of a debate some¬ 
where in the course. A class studying the “Lure 
of Africa” devoted one entire meeting to a debate, 
“Resolved, that civilization has been a net gain for 
Africa and the Africans,” covering the matter of a 
whole chapter in that way. Debates represent one 
of the best methods of class expression. They 
should not be too long. If properly managed and 
prepared they stimulate interest and healthy en¬ 
thusiasm. 

Use of the Anecdote 

Properly used, the anecdote is a great help in 
presenting a lesson truth. So are fables, parables, 
comparisons and other illustrations. The Teacher 
should plan to introduce a number of such illustra¬ 
tions into each lesson—they brighten the session 
materially. It is advisable for the Teacher to keep 
either a scrap book or a card index file with anec¬ 
dotes and other illustrations readily accessible, filed 
so that one may be found to illustrate any subject. 
The Teacher should be on the look-out in his read¬ 
ing, in his conversation, in his travels, in 
current events and in nature, for good illustrations. 


<62 The Mens Class in Action 

An anecdote should never be told for its own 
sake. The Teacher is conducting a Bible Class, with 
the aim of inculcating lasting Biblical knowledge, 
not a minstrel show with the aim of causing laugh¬ 
ter. If an anecdote which impresses a desired truth 
results in incidental smiles, well and good—if there 
is laughter without a definite, desirable impression, 
the anecdote is out of place. 

The writer recalls attending a class at which the 
Sermon on the Mount was the lesson. The class in 
reading the Scripture came to the portion where it 
reads, “. . . .and whosoever shall compel thee to 
go a mile, go with him twain.” Here the Teacher 
stopped and told the class this story: “A friend 
asked Mark Twain to go on a walk with him. 
‘How far is it? 5 asked Twain. ‘A mile,’ answered 
the friend. ‘Yes, I will go for the Bible tells me 
to/ answered Twain, ‘and whosoever shall compel 
thee to go a mile, go with him, twain/ ” The at¬ 
tention of the class was of course taken from the 
Scripture and directed to the questionable, out-of- 
place anecdote. All anecdotes and illustrations 
-should be included in the teaching plan. 

Use of Lantern and Stereoscope 

Both of these instruments are great aids in pre¬ 
senting lessons, especially those on missions, his¬ 
tory, social service and geography. Interest is 


The Teacher and the Class 63 

added to the course, and the scenes talked of are 
made more vivid. Where neither are available, 
charts made by the members and photographs 
mounted on screens are helpful. 

Special Speakers 

Very often a class develops a mania for special 
speakers. Great effort is made to stir up enthusiasm 
for the outside speaker, and but little effort is put 
forth between times in behalf of the regular, and 
probably harder working Teacher. Frequently these 
speakers are introduced in the midst of a course, 
breaking the connection between the lessons. 

Special inspirational speakers should be used as 
a means, not an end. It is often possible to secure 
a specialist on a subject which the class is studying. 
If so, the class should by all means invite him to 
discuss some lesson of the course. On special days 
such as Rally Day an inspirational speaker is de¬ 
sirable. Some classes plan special short summer 
courses with different speakers of note for each 
Sunday—a splendid way of stimulating attendance 
during the vacation period. 


Ill: CLASS EXPRESSION 

Education is not simply a “pouring in” process. 
There must be a certain amount of pouring out on 


64 The Mens Class in Action 

the part of the student. In other words, oppor¬ 
tunity for expression must be given. In the men's 
classes expression largely takes the form of lesson 
discussion. Every member should be encouraged 
to take some part in the discussion. Much can be 
learned from listening to the views of the other 
members. 

The topical method of conducting a lesson gives 
abundant opportunity for expression on the part of 
the class members. In presenting assigned topics 
they not only give information, but learn much 
themselves. The Teacher who lectures always learns 
more than his hearers, because of the preparation 
which he gives to his subject. By the use of the 
topical method, every member is in effect a Teacher. 
Any class using this method consistently will find 
its members increasing in Biblical knowledge and 
in class interest. To the more timid members 
should be assigned the reading of the Scripture les¬ 
son and other simple tasks, until the timidity wears 
off. The Bible should be read at every class meet¬ 
ing even though the course is so-called “extra- 
Biblical.” The class might read some one complete 
book or a group of short books during such courses. 

The better way of reading the Scripture, espe¬ 
cially in smaller classes is each member alternately 
reading a certain portion, not necessarily one verse, 


The Teacher and the Class 65 

but rather a whole section or paragraph giving a 
complete thought, following American Revised Ver¬ 
sion divisions. Responsive reading usually sounds 
rather weak in small classes and should not be en¬ 
couraged. The members should also be urged to 
form the habit of home daily Bible reading. 

Another method of expression is by means of 
note books. Many men get the most good from the 
lesson in this way. The outline of the lesson, the 
leading thoughts, and any special points of interest 
should be noted. In every class there should be 
some members who would be willing to keep note 
books. 

In such courses as “The Social Teachings of 
Jesus,” a very good plan is to provide all members 
with cheap Testaments, and to ask them to under¬ 
score all passages from which a social teaching may 
be gotten. If underscored in red and the teaching 
noted in the margin, a very graphic index of Jesus’ 
teachings about money, the family, divorce, etc., 
will be the result. More nearly complete notes may 
be kept if an interleaved Testament is used. 

In the Teacher’s plan of the lesson, provision 
should be made for expression as far as possible 
on the part of every member. Various methods 
may be planned for the same course, some elaborate 
for those having some time at their disposal, and 


66 The Mens Class in Action 

some designed for the busy members of the class. 
One class in studying the “Life of Christ” gave an 
option of five methods of work and asked every 
member to choose one of them: 

1. Write your own “Life of Christ.” Write one 
chapter in your note book each week, until the 
course is completed. The chapters need be no 
longer than three hundred words. 

2. Learn an outline of His life, so as to be able 
to give in a connected way the chief events in each 
period. 

3. Read the Life of Christ as written in the four 
Gospels; the use of a harmony is recommended. 

4. Read the short, selected Scripture lessons each 
week. 

5. Attend class throughout the course. 

With such a program no one is asked to do more 
than he is able; provision is made for the man who 
has no time for study, and also for the one who 
has plenty of time. Using this same study, mem¬ 
bers of another class made their own harmonies by 
pasting the Scripture from two cheap Testaments 
in parallel columns in a blank note book. Such 
harmonies can also be made of the Life of Paul, 
by pasting the Pauline Epistles in their proper his¬ 
torical sequence between events in the book of Acts; 
of the Old Testament Prophetical Literature, plac¬ 
ing it correctly in relation to events given in the 


The Teacher and the Class 67 

books of Kings and Chronicles. So, too, an his- 
torical New Testament may be made by placing the 
books in the accepted order of writing. 

Special Talks 

Some classes have used certain interest-creating 
talks by members for just five minutes every Sun¬ 
day morning. One class had, for a number of 
weeks, a series of “Current Topic Talks” by dif¬ 
ferent men each week. The speaker chose some 
topic of current interest and gave a brief talk, 
bringing out the lesson he saw in it. A series of 
“Shop Talks” also held attention and served to 
make the members better acquainted. In this case 
the speaker gave a brief outline of his business. A' 
series of “Hobby Talks” can also be used in the 
same manner. 

Not all the suggestions given here are applicable 
to all classes. The Teacher must study his class and 
use the methods best adapted to it. Hard work and 
persistent effort always result in increased interest 
on the part of the class members. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

New Standard Teacher Training Course —Adult 
Specialization Units. 

Barclay, “The Adult Worker and His Work,” Chap¬ 
ters VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII. 




68 The Mens Class in Action 

Bovard, “Adults in the Sunday School/’ Chapters V, 
VII. 

Richardson, “The Religious Education of Adoles¬ 
cents,” Chapter XI. (For Teachers of Young Men.) 
Wells, “The Ideal Adult Class,” Chapters II, IV. 
Hudson, “The ‘How’ Book.” 

Betts, “How to Teach Religion.” 

Betts, “The Recitation.” 

Gregory, “The Seven Laws of Teaching.” 

Coe, “A Social Theory of Religious Education.” 

Coe, “The Spiritual Life.” 

Coe, “The Religion of a Mature Mind.” 

King, “Personal and Ideal Elements in Education.” 
Horne, “Psychological Principles of Education.” 
James, “Talks to Teachers on Psychology.” 

Fitch, “The Art of Securing Attention.” 

Hughes, “How to Secure and Retain Attention.” 
Branom, “The Project Method in Education.” 

Pyle, “Outlines of Educational Psychology.” 

Wood, “Adult Class Study,” Chapter I. 

Horne, “Leadership of Bible Study Groups.” 
Munsterberg, “Psychology and the Teacher.” 
Starbuck, “The Psychology of Religion.” 


Chapter Five 


PRINCIPLES OF STUDY COURSE 
SELECTION 

I : THE NEED OF ELECTIVE COURSES 

N O hard and fast rule of grading can be laid 
down for adult classes. When the young 
man reaches the age of eighteen, he has certain life 
interests that influence his conduct very strongly. 
He is very likely, unless going on tO' college, ready 
to make his decision regarding a life occupation— 
he should be considering this at any rate. If al¬ 
ready settled in a line of work, he is interested in 
the application of religious teachings to that work; 
social interests crowd upon him; he has problems 
of dress, of amusements, of friends, etc. The mind 
is developing and the reasoning instincts are grow¬ 
ing; now the young man will not accept dogmatic 
statements—he insists that his reason be satisfied. 
To meet the varied needs of the men in the Sunday 
School, the privilege of election of study courses 
should be granted to the adult classes. 

In selecting study courses the class should not 
forget that it is organized primarily for the study 
69 


70 The Mens Class in Action 

of the Bible and the application of its teachings to 
the lives of its members. The Adult Bible Class 
can hardly study socialism, sociology, history or 
literature, except as it studies these subjects in con¬ 
nection with the Biblical solution of members’ prob¬ 
lems—to help illuminate the Scriptures, as it were. 
While all class study should keep to the Bible, that 
does not mean that the Bible will be studied for its 
own sake. Dr. Samuel Zane Batten strikes a key¬ 
note when he says, “A Bible Class that begins and 
ends its work with a study of the Scriptures is 
wasting its time and is not honoring the King.” 1 
It is only as the teachings of the marvelous Book 
of Books are applied to the lives of men and women 
that its potentiality becomes a living, pulsating force 
for righteousness. It is this force which the men’s 
class must seek to develop. 

II: DETERMINING FACTORS 

Class Membership 

No two classes will require nor want the same 
courses of study. The ages of the members will 
determine to some extent the courses to be studied; 
the individual needs and interests of the members 
will add its influence toward the formation of a 
study course. Most men will give but little time to 

1 “Training for Citizenship in the Kingdom of God.”—Batten. 


Study Course Selection 71 

lesson preparation; consequently the courses should 
be to the point and intensely practical, so that all 
attendants will find the sessions helpful, thought 
provoking and action stimulating. 

The Class Teacher 

The study course will be determined in part by 
the Teacher. If he is untrained (he need not remain 
so) he will be unable to teach many courses that 
a trained Teacher would. No Teacher without a 
knowledge of social organization or social ideals 
should attempt to teach such a book as Matthews’ 
“Social Teachings of Jesus.” Neither should a 
Teacher who knows nothing of the facts of general 
secular history try to teach a course in Church His¬ 
tory. The study course will vary from simple to 
complex as the Teacher advances in knowledge, and 
as the class members progress in their ability to 
grasp the subject matter. 

Class Aim 

The course will also be determined by the class 
aim. A class may organize for the study of mis¬ 
sions—the bulk of the courses will then be mis¬ 
sionary in their appeal; it may organize to study 
the social message of the Bible, in which case most 
of the courses will emphasize that aim; again its 
aim may be to make better parents and better chil- 


72 The Men’s Class in Action 

dren—it will then study one or more strong Child 
Study Courses annually. In one of the large St. 
Louis Sunday Schools, there is a class composed of 
salesmen and advertising men, organized to study 
the relation of Biblical teachings to their work— 
this aim naturally determines the course followed. 
There is no reason why in every Sunday School 
there should not be a number of special groups fol¬ 
lowing courses along the lines of their several spe¬ 
cial interests. If the class is large enough there 
may be several groups within the class, either meet¬ 
ing at the regular study period or during a special 
week period. Some of the larger classes have con¬ 
ducted supplementary week-day classes with good 
effect. 

Balance 

As a general thing the size of the class and the 
teachers available will make it difficult to conduct 
many separate classes at one time. In order to best 
meet the needs of the entire class constituency, the 
need of a balanced course is made evident—even 
if one’s interest does lie largely in one direction it 
is not advisable to confine his study simply to the 
one subject. Just as one will not thrive on choco¬ 
late pie alone, but needs a balanced diet to nourish 
every part of the physical man, so all parts of the 


Study Course Selection 73 

mental and spiritual man need development. The 
course of study should then include the elements 
needed to bring about the complete spiritual growth 
of the class membership. How a balanced course is 
built will be shown later. 


Ill: WHO SHOULD SELECT THE COURSE? 

This depends on conditions. If the school has 
a committee on education, the course selected by the 
class should be submitted to it or to the Superin¬ 
tendent of Education. Usually if the Teacher is 
competent, the course is selected by him and sub¬ 
mitted to the class for approval. The wisdom of 
this is easily seen; the Teacher is more likely to 
know the needs of the members than any one else. 
In some cases he forms the course in connection 
with a class committee appointed for the purpose. 
In other cases, a list of courses, grouped according 
to kind, is submitted, from which the members 
select their preferences. From this selection the 
Teacher selects the course, trying to suit the greatest 
number. 

The selected courses should always be submitted 
for approval to the head of the school, who is dele¬ 
gated with the duty of properly correlating the 
school curriculum. This may be the Superinten- 


74 The Mens Class in Action 

dent or the Director of Religious Education. The 
class may well take him into its confidence during 
the entire process of determining the subjects that 
are to be included in its year’s study. 

IV: BALANCING THE COURSE 

A' balanced curriculum will include five kinds of 
courses: 

Bible Outline Course —in which some one book 
or some portion of the Bible is studied so as to get 
a bird’s-eye view, as it were—a connected outline 
of its structure and purpose. The study of the 
Old Testament period in fifteen weeks is such a 
course; 

Intensive Bible Study Course —in which some 
portion of the Bible is studied intensively, so as to 
get all the details. The Epistle of James in nine 
weeks is a good example; 

Christian Life Course —the use of the Bible 
teachings in actual life, e.g., “Christianity and 
Amusements” and “A Young Man’s Problems.” 
Here belong also doctrinal and devotional courses; 

Church History Courses —such as “How We Got 
Our Bible,” “History of Religion,” or “History of 
the Christian Church”; 

Modern Christian Work —which includes courses 
on missions and social service. 


Study Course Selection 75 


V: THE CURRICULUM UNIT 

The course of study should be outlined for an 
entire year. That is the only way to actually main¬ 
tain balance. It takes real foresight and initiative 
to prepare courses. It takes the same qualities to 
maintain them. A positive way to lose interest in 
a course is to enter into it only half prepared. The 
illustration of the Teacher and the Book of Daniel 
in Chapter IV is an instance of how not to do it. 
Another Teacher decided that a certain course had 
ceased to interest the class, and asked, “Well, what 
shall we study next?” The following Sunday he 
attempted to start a new course that had been 
selected by one of the members—this course also 
failed to hold interest after several weeks. 


VI: LENGTH OF COURSES 

Among the younger men there is a tendency 
to grow restless—they want variety. This means 
shorter courses. As a usual thing, a course should 
not last longer than three months—two months is 
better, and most six-week courses are always suc¬ 
cessful. There are exceptions of course—one young 
man's class studied “The Story of the New Testa¬ 
ment” for seventeen weeks, but that course was 


76 The Mens Class in Action 

virtually a new course each week, as an entirely dif¬ 
ferent book was discussed at each session. 


VII: VARIATION OF APPROACH 

In selecting courses it should be borne in mind 
that the same subject matter may usually be treated 
in several ways. Take the life of Christ for in¬ 
stance. One class has studied an outline of the 
Life according to the synoptic Gospels, the course 
lasting only nine weeks. From it the class obtained 
a picture of the connected Life, more vivid than 
any they had received before. At another time a 
course on the teachings of Christ’s parables as re¬ 
corded by Luke was taken. A course on “The So¬ 
cial Teachings of Jesus” proved very interesting. 
Courses could also be given on The Miracles of 
Jesus, The Ethical Teachings of Jesus, a Devotional 
Study of the Life of Christ, the study of the pic¬ 
tures of Christ given by each of the four gospels, 
each taken separately, a study of “How Jesus Met 
Life Problems,” and “How Jesus Met Men.” The 
possibilities are really inexhaustible. 


VIII : THE MEMBERS TEACHING 

The class may occasionally desire to vary its les¬ 
son program by including a course, conducted not 


77 


Study Course Selection 

by the Teacher, but by the members—a course 
planned by the Teacher, but of such a nature that a 
member could readily lead the discussion. A Mis¬ 
sion course might easily be planned with this end 
in view. The “Challenge of the City,” or “The 
Challenge of the Country,” might be handled in 
that way, with the application made to the com¬ 
munity in which the class is situated. Such a 
course would be a splendid one to have during the 
summer vacation period while the regular Teacher 
is away. 

In a course on Hebrew Laws, given by one men’s 
class, a lawyer member was able to lead the class 
with even more enthusiasm, and better results than 
the Teacher himself—knowing more about modern 
law than the Teacher, he could better show how the 
Old Testament laws were the basis of the laws of 
to-day. The Teacher who is always looking for 
best results will not overlook such opportunities to 
utilize the class members. 

Some classes as mentioned in Chapter IV pro¬ 
vide courses for a limited period, in which a dif¬ 
ferent visiting speaker discusses one phase of the 
subject each week. Such courses as A Young 
Man’s Problems, A Young Man’s Religion, and 
many Social Service courses can be conducted in 
that way. Those in charge should be careful to 
have the entire program fully planned, so that due 


78 The Mens Class in Action 

announcement of the complete course may be made 
at the very beginning. Such announcement, printed 
on cards or in papers, with the dates, names of the 
topics and the speakers who are to discuss them, 
should make an excellent advertisement to bring in 
new members. 

These special features should be used judiciously. 
Only the largest classes could possibly keep up such 
a pace of special features for protracted periods. 
The most desirable enthusiasm is that which is per¬ 
manent—the enthusiasm of consistent, consecutive 
effort by the class as it stands back of the regular 
teacher. A religious “jag” has little permanent 
value. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Wood, “Adult Class Study,” Part I. 

Strickland & McGlothlin, “Building the Bible 
Class,” Second Division, Chapter VII. 

Barclay, “The Adult Worker and His Work,” Chap¬ 
ter V. 

Blick, “The Adult Department,” Chapter VI. 

Bovard, “Adults in the Sunday School,” Chapter VI. 

Pease, “An Outline of a Bible School Curriculum,” 
Chapters IX, X, XI. 

Batten, “Social Studies for Adult Classes”; “Train¬ 
ing for Citizenship in the Kingdom of God.” (Leaflets 
from Social Service Department, American Baptist Pub¬ 
lication Society.) 


Chapter Six 


BUILDING THE STUDY COURSE 

I: AVAILABLE STUDY COURSES 

International Uniform Lessons 

M ANY classes use these lessons to good 
advantage, suiting them to their needs. 
Some of the new International courses are well 
adapted to use in men’s classes. As a whole they 
are too fragmentary; then, too, they omit entirely 
many portions of the Bible and subjects of great 
interest and value to men. Most classes need les¬ 
sons designed particularly for their own mem¬ 
bership. Getting away from the International 
Uniform Lessons does not mean that the class is 
getting away from Bible study. There are many 
available Bible Study Courses more suited to the 
men’s class than the uniform lessons. 

International Graded Series 

Some splendid courses are included, and excel¬ 
lent helps are issued by all the denominational pub¬ 
lishing houses. Even fourth year Intermediate 
courses can be and have been successfully adapted 
79 



80 The Mens Class in Action 

for use in adult classes. The senior courses are 
splendid for all men’s classes, and include surveys 
of the Old and New Testament, historically de¬ 
veloped ; a very complete social service course; 
studies in Christian Service; the study of 
the Books of James and Ruth, Old Testament lit¬ 
erary masterpieces; a study of twelve Biblical 
biographies with the emphasis on the Social devel¬ 
opment of Biblical history. It would be well for 
every teacher to have the prospecti of these courses 
furnished free by the publishing houses. 

The International Sunday School Council has 
prepared outlines of several graded courses for 
Adult Classes, some of which have been published 
by the Westminster Press of Philadelphia. A com¬ 
plete set of outlines, from which any capable teacher 
may easily formulate a course, may be secured from 
the Council. Outlines are available on Amos, 
one quarter; Christianity in Action, four one- 
quarter courses; Hints on Child Training, three 
months; the Liquor Evil, three months; Deuteron¬ 
omy, three months; Galatians, three months. 

University of Chicago Courses 

The University publishes in the Constructive 
Series some very good courses for young men and 
adults; included are courses on The Gospel of Mark, 
First Samuel, Life of Christ, Hebrew Prophets, 


Building the Study Course 81 

History of the Christian Church, Social Duties 
from a Christian Point of View, etc. Under the 
direction of the American Institution of Sacred 
Literature, are published some of the finest available 
inductive courses on the Bible, all developed his¬ 
torically and with the aid of no book other than the 
Bible itself. Courses are available on the Old and 
New Testament, The Psalms, The Wisdom 
Literature, The Priestly Literature, The Old Testa¬ 
ment Prophets, The Book of Revelation, The Life 
of Christ, The Gospel of John, The Life and Teach¬ 
ings of Paul, The Social and Ethical Teachings of 
Jesus, and others. The teacher should secure com¬ 
plete lists of titles of both these series from the Uni¬ 
versity of Chicago Press. 

Scribner's Courses 

Two worthwhile series of courses are published 
by Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. The Uni¬ 
form Graded Series of lessons is to the writer’s 
mind far superior to the International Uniform Les¬ 
sons for giving a connected account of the events 
of the Bible. These courses include Old Testament 
History, Apostolic Church History^ Life of Christ, 
and several courses of Old and New Testament 
biographies. Each course covers one year’s work. 

The Completely Graded Series contains some 
splendid material, not to be found in courses of 


82 The Mens Class in Action 

other publishers. There is an entire year’s course 
on missions, which may be divided into shorter 
three-month courses; Comparative Religions, Mis¬ 
sions in the Eastern World, Missions in the Western 
World, and the Business of Missions. A very good 
course on Church History is provided, and another 
on The Modem Church. Lists of the complete 
courses will be furnished free by the publishers. 

Fleming Revell Press 

The series of ten courses by Dr. Sell is suitable 
for all men’s classes—Studies in the Life of Christ; 
Studies in the Four Gospels; Studies in the Life of 
Paul; Early Church History; Studies in the Life 
of the Christian; Bible Study by Books; Bible Study 
by Periods; Bible Study by Doctrines; Bible Study 
in Vital Questions; Supplementary Bible Study. 
Revell also 1 publish a series of twelve Bible Biogra¬ 
phies, as well as many separate texts, suitable for 
class study. Classes interested in Church History 
and Missions will find some of the most valuable 
material in the Revell Catalog. 

Abingdon Press 

The Catalogue of the publishing board of the 
M. E. Church shows some splendid texts on prac¬ 
tical Christian living and on the modern “fad” re¬ 
ligions. 


Building the Study Course 83 

Association Press 

The Y. M. C. A. courses, of which there are 
many, appeal strongly to men. Courses are pre¬ 
pared for beginners in Bible Study as well as for 
those who can assimilate the meat of the Scripture. 
Many of the courses provide for daily readings of 
the Bible. There are included some very fine 
studies of sections of the Bible, but the Y. M. C. A. 
courses emphasize Christian Life and the Devo¬ 
tional element. To list the better courses would be 
to reprint the Association Press Catalog. 

Judson Press 

Aside from the regular graded lesson material, 
the publishing house of the Northern Baptists issues 
much other literature that is suitable for use as 
study courses. A series of three courses by Dr. 
Philip Nordell, on the Old Testament History, 
Apostolic Age, and Life of Christ is worthy of con¬ 
sideration. The series of church history handbooks 
by Dr. Vedder are good for either four short courses 
or one long course on Church History. Four ex¬ 
cellent three month Old Testament Courses—Old 
Testament History, Old Testament Wisdom, Old 
Testament Character Crises, and Old Testament 
Evangelism—have just been published. 


84 The Mens Class in Action 

Sunday School Board 

The Board of the Southern Baptist Convention 
publishes a large number of valuable works suitable 
for class study. The Convention Series of Com¬ 
mentaries might well form the basis of pure Bible 
study. Volumes have already been issued covering 
the Pastoral Epistles, Romans, Philippians, Ephe¬ 
sians, Mark, Acts and Hebrews. In the fourth year 
Senior Graded series, the Sunday School Board 
offers worthwhile three-month courses on John, 
Ezekiel, Romans and Psalms. 


Pilgrim Press 

The outline Bible-Class Courses of the Pilgrim 
Press give subject headings and all necessary Scrip¬ 
ture references, as well as an extensive bibliogra¬ 
phy. The Teacher using these outlines is in a posi¬ 
tion to present some intensely interesting courses. 
The Pilgrim list covers such subjects as The Life of 
Christ according to the Synoptic Gospels; the Wis¬ 
dom Literature of the Old Testament; Hebrew 
Laws; Apocalyptic Literature; Life of Paul; Let¬ 
ters of Paul; Book of Acts; Joshua and Judges; 
Book of First Samuel; History of Missions; His¬ 
tory of the Christian Church; History of Bible 
Versions; Biblical Geography; Old Testament 
Apocrypha; a Study of the City. These outlines 


Building the Study Course 85 

may be secured for five cents each. Address Pil¬ 
grim Press, Boston. 

Westminster Press 

The many texts available from this publisher 
make it easy for the Teacher to select suitable 
courses. Excellent books suitable for the study of 
church history, missions and Christian Character 
building may be secured. 

Friends' Series 

The Society of Friends of Philadelphia publish 
in their Graded Series some worthy courses. A 
thirty-six lesson course on the Social Teachings of 
Jesus can be had; seven lessons of these are on the 
Sermon on the Mount. The Prophet’s series in¬ 
cludes studies on Amos, seven weeks; Hosea, four 
weeks; Isaiah, eleven weeks; Jeremiah, seven 
weeks; Micah, three weeks. In the Hebrew Litera¬ 
ture course is a course on the Epistle to the He¬ 
brews, nine weeks. 

Mission Study 

All the best mission study books may be secured 
through the regular Sunday School supply houses. 
The most popular series is that published by the 
Missionary Education Movement of New York, al¬ 
though many worthwhile texts are also published by 



86 The Mens Class in Action 

Re veil, Macmillan and Scribner. The Teacher 
should secure the catalog of the Missionary Edu¬ 
cation Department of his own denominational 
board, which usually lists Mission study books of 
the Home and Foreign Boards as well as the litera¬ 
ture of other denominations. 

Individually Planned Courses 

If the Teacher has the ability, he may plan his 
own course. One Teacher planned a course on 
“How We Got Our Bible,” by selecting material 
from six or eight texts, all of which were incom¬ 
plete in themselves, and was in that way able to 
present a complete course covering the entire sub¬ 
ject. A course on strictly denominational mission¬ 
ary work was in like manner prepared from litera¬ 
ture furnished by the Mission Boards and files of 
the denominational missionary magazines. An¬ 
other Teacher planned wonderfully helpful courses 
on “How to Use Your Bible,” “A Young Man’s 
Problems,” and “A Young Man’s Religion.” 
Courses in Social Service may be planned to cover 
conditions existing in the city in which the class is 
located. Courses on Biblical books, for which no 
special texts have as yet been published, may be 
developed and outlined by using Commentaries and 
Bible Dictionaries. 

The Teacher will find it to his advantage to have 


Building the Study Course 87 

the catalogs of all publishers of religious literature 
on hand, so that he may know what material is 
available. Many texts are on the shelves of the 
Public Library; often the Library of a State Sun¬ 
day School Association will be at the disposal of 
the Teacher. He should make it a point to examine 
personally as many courses as possible. He will 
then be in position to choose that which is best for 
his class, and that which he is best fitted to teach. 


II : CLASSIFICATION OF SUGGESTED COURSES 

The following classification of courses for the 
men’s class is not a complete list of all courses 
available. It is intended to give the class inex¬ 
perienced in selecting balanced courses a guide by 
which it may work. Enough courses are suggested, 
however, to enable any class to select such material 
as is needed for its individual needs. The figures 
given after many of the course topics indicate the 
number of weeks a course will ordinarily require. 
All courses are sufficiently flexible to permit minor 
adjustments in length. Publishers are indicated by 
prefixes as follows: A—Abingdon Press; B—Sun¬ 
day School Board of the Southern Baptist Conven¬ 
tion; C—University of Chicago Press; F—Society 
of Friends; G—International Graded Series; J— 
Judson Press; P—Pilgrim Press; R—Fleming H. 




88 The Mens Class in Action 

Revell Co.; S—Charles Scribner’s Sons; W—West¬ 
minster Press; Y—Association Press. 

I. Bible Outline Courses 

(A) The Men of the Gospels—Hough. 

(B) Studies in the New Testament—Robertson 

12. 

(B) Heart of the Old Testament—Sampey 14. 

(B) Churches of the New Testament—McDaniel 

11. 

(C) Story of the New Testament—Goodspeed 

20. 

(C) Origin and Teaching of the New Testament 
Books—Burton & Merrifield 9 to 36. 

(C) Life of Paul—Robinson 12. 

(C) Origin and Religious Teaching of the Old 
Testament Books—Chamberlin 9 to 36. 
(G) Old Testament Times (Senior Graded) 
39 or 52. 

(G) New Testament Times (Senior Graded) 
39 or 52. 

(J) Old Testament History—Airplane View 13. 
(J) Old Testament History—Nordell 52. 

(R) Life of Christ—Sell 8. 

(R) Life of Paul—Sell 9. 

(R) Bible Study by Books—Sell 52. 

(R) Bible Study by Periods—Sell 24. 

(R) Studies in the Four Gospels—Sell 8. 

(S) Preparations for Christianity—Nordell 52. 
(W) Teachings of the Lord Jesus—Bean. 

(Y) Book of Isaiah—Robinson 15. 

II. Intensive Bible Courses 

(A) Studies in the Parables of Jesus—Luccock. 
(A) Students’ History of the Hebrews—Knott. 


Building the Study Course 89 

(B) Gospel of John (Senior Graded) 13. 

(B) Romans (Senior Graded) 13. 

(B) Ezekiel (Senior Graded) 13. 

(B) Psalms (Senior Graded) 13. 

(C) Mark—Burton. 

(C) First Samuel—Willet 26-52. 

(C) Life of Christ—Burton & Mathews or Bur¬ 
gess 39. 

(C) The Hebrew Prophets—Chamberlin 36. 

(C) Christianity in the Apostolic Age—Gilbert. 
(C) The Revelation—Case 4 to 16. 

(C) Gospel of John—Goodspeed 9 to 18. 

(C) Work of the Old Testament Sages—Harper 
9 to 36. 

(C) Paul—a Pioneer in Christian Living and 
Christian Service—Goodspeed 9 to 36. 
(C) How to Interpret Old Testament Prophecy— 
Mathews 9 to 36. 

(Doran)—Parables of Our Lord—Dods. 

(Doran)—The Ten Commandments—Coffin. 

(F) Amosv(Graded Series) 7. 

(F) Hosea (Graded Series) 4. 

(F) Isaiah (Graded Series) 11. 

(F) Jeremiah (Graded Series) 7. 

(F) Micah (Graded Series) 3. 

(F) Hebrews (Graded Series) 9. 

(G) Book of James (Senior Graded) 9. 

(G) Book of Ruth (Senior Graded) 3. 

(J) Old Testament Wisdom 13. 

(J) Life of Christ—Nordell 40. 

(J) Apostolic Age—Nordell 30. 

(J) The Message of the Lord’s Prayer—Duncan. 
(P) Joshua and Judges 20. 

(P) Hebrew Laws 6 to 20. 

(P) The Apocalyptic Literature 19. (Includes 
9 weeks on Daniel.) 


90 The Mens Class in Action 

(P) Old Testament Apocrypha 12. 

(P) Life of Paul 19. 

(P) Epistles of Paul 18. 

(P) The Acts 24. 

(The above Pilgrim Press Courses are included in the 
Outline Study Courses.) 

(R) Syllabus of Old Testament History—Price. 

(R) Studies in the Sermon on the Mount— 
McAfee. 

(R) The Man Paul—Speer. 

(R) The Parables of the Old Testament— 
Macartney. 

(R) Bible Heroes—a series of volumes by Dr. 

F. B. Meyer, dealing with Abraham, Da¬ 
vid, Elijah, Jacob, Jeremiah, Joseph, 
Joshua, Moses, Samuel, Zechariah, Paul 
and John the Baptist. 

(S) History of the Hebrews—Sanders. 

(S) The Making of a Nation—Jenks & Kent. 

(S) Testing a Nation's Ideals—Jenks & Kent. 

(The two courses above deal with the history of Israel.) 

(S) Life of Christ (Uniform Series) 52. 

(S) Apostolic Leaders (Uniform Series) 52. 

(S) Patriarchs, Kings & Prophets (Uniform 
Series) 52. 

(W) Many Sided David—Howard (Adult Elec¬ 
tive Series) 13. 

(W) Many Sided Paul—Green (Adult Elective 
Series) 13. 

(W) Ten Commandments for To-day—Dale. 

(W) A Study of the Lord's Prayer—Richards. 

(W) The Message of Amos—Robinson & Mc¬ 
Afee (Adults Elective Series) 13. 

(W) The Message of Deuteronomy—Luccock 
(Adults Elective Series) 13. 


Building the Study Course 91 

(W) The Message of Galatians—Luccock (Adults 
Elective Series) 13. 

(Y) Message of the Twelve Prophets—Murray- 

28. 

(Y) New Studies in Acts—Bosworth 19. 

III. Christian Life Courses (Includes Doctrinal ) 

(A) Fundamentals of the Christian Religion— 
Halfyard. 

(A) Program of the Christian Religion—Shack- 
ford. 

(A) Religion and Life—Hull. 

(A) The Man of Power—Hough 12. 

(A) Christianity and World Democracy—Heber 
13 - 

(A) A Man’s Religion—McDowell. 

(A) The Liquor Problem—Richardson. 

(A) Studies in Recent Adventism—Sheldon. 

(A) Christian Science—So-Called—Sheldon. 

(A) A Four-Fold Test of Mormonism—Sheldon. 
(A) Theosophy and New Thought—Sheldon. 

(A) The Mystery Religions of the New Testa¬ 

ment—Sheldon. 

(B) Training in Bible Study—Dawes 10. 

(C) Religious Education in the Family—Cope. 
(C) Christian Faith for Men of To-day—Cook. 
(C) What Is Christianity?—Cross. 

(C) The Realities of the Christian Religion— 
Smith-Soares 9-36. 

(C) Paul—a Pioneer in Christian Living and 
Christian Service—Goodspeed 9-36. 

(J) Old Testament Character Crises—13. 

(J) Old Testament Evangelism 13. 

(J) The Church a Field of Service—Rust. 

(J) The Young Christian and His Bible—Geist- 
weit 10-25. 


92 The Men’s Class in Action 

(J) Christianity in a New World—Burton. 

(J) The Young Christian and His Work— 
Grenell. 

(J) A Young Man’s Difficulties with His Bible— 
Faunce. 

(J) Principles of Christian Service—Cope io. 
(R) Christian Ethics—Davidson. 

(R) Studies in the Life of a Christian—Sell 14. 
(R) Studies in Vital Questions—Sell 16. 

(R) Bible Study by Doctrines—Sell 24. 

(R) Religion of a Mature Mind—Coe. 

(R) How to Study the English Bible—Cudle- 

stone. 

(S) The Modern Church—Nordell (Senior 

Graded). 

(W) Christian According to Paul—Faris (Adult 
Elective Series). 

(W) Paul’s Message for To-day—Miller. 

(W) A Christian’s Habits—Speer. 

(W) A Young Man’s Questions—Speer. 

(W) Money, the Acid Test—McConaughy. 

(W) The Christian Home (Adult Elective Se¬ 
ries) 13. 

(W) Elements of Personal Christianity—Luc- 
cock (Adult Elective Series) 13. 

(W) Characteristics of the Christian Life (Adult 
Elective Series) 13. 

(W) The Christian in Social Relationships 
(Adult Elective Series) 13. 

(W) Fundamentals for Daily Living (Adult 
Elective Series) 13. 

(W) Fundamentals of Christian Experience 
(Adult Elective Series) 13. 

(Y) Christ in Every-Day Life—Bosworth. 

(Y) Christian Basis of World Democracy—La- 
Tourette 12. 


Building the Study Course 93 

(Y) Christianity and Amusements—Edwards io. 
(Y) How God Calls Men—Harris. 

(Y) How Jesus Met Life Questions—Elliot. 

(Y) International Aspects of Christianity— 
Davis. 

(Y) Marks of a World Christian—Fleming. 

(Y) Meaning of Faith—Fosdick 13. 

(Y) Meaning of Prayer—Fosdick 10. 

(Y) Meaning of Service—Fosdick 12. 

(Y) Manhood of the Master—Fosdick 10. 

(Y) Meeting the Master—Davis. 

(Y) Psalms of the Social Life—McAfee. 


IV. Church History 

(C) Christianity and Its Bible—Waring. 

(C) Great Men of the Christian Church— 
Walker. 

(C) How the Bible Grew—Lewis. 

(J) Church History by Periods—Vedder. 

(J) History of the English Bible—Pattison. 

(P) History of Bible Versions—Wood 15. 

(P) Church History 15. 

(P) The Church in the Reformation 7. 

(P) History of Missions 4. 

(Pilgrim Press Outline Study Courses.) 

(R) History of the Christian Church—Moncrief. 
(R) The Missionary Enterprise—Bliss. 

(R) Studies in Early Church History—Sell. 

(R) Landmarks in Church History—Carver. 

(R) Early Church History—Bartlett. 

(S) Landmarks in Church History—Rowe 52. 
(W) Church History in Brief—Moffat. 

(W) Growth of the Christian Church—Nichols. 
(W) Sketches of Church History—Wharey. 

(W) How We Got Our Bible—Smythe. 


94 The Mens Class in Action 

Note: —Every class should study the history of 
its own denomination and the principles for which 
its church stands. Suitable texts are available at 
the denominational boards. 

V. Social Service and Missions 

(B) Country Church in the South—Masters 8. 
(B) Making America Christian—Masters 6. 

(B) All the World in All the World—Carver 12. 

(C) Social Duties from the Christian Point of 

View—Henderson. 

(C) Message of Jesus to Our Modern Life— 
Mathews 9 to 36. 

(C) Message of the Prophets to the 20th Cen¬ 
tury—Willet 9 to 36. 

(C) Religions of the World—Barton 20. 

(G) The Bible and Social Living (4th Year 
Senior) 52. 

May be used as the following short courses if desired: 

1. The Family 6. 

2. The Community 6. 

3. The State 6. 

4. The Church 6. 

5. The Industrial Order 13. 

6 . Bible Spokesmen for the Kingdom of 

God 13. 

(J) Social Principles of Jesus—Rauschenbusch. 
(J) Social Ideals of the Lord’s Prayer—Stack- 
house. 

(J) Christ and the Nations—Batten 13. 

(J) Christianity in a New World—Burton. 

(J) By-paths to Forgotten Folks—Hayne. 

(J) Redemption of the City—Sears. 

(J) The Social Gospel—Mathews. 

(J) Stewardship and Missions—Cook. 


Building the Study Course 95 

(J) 2,000 years of Missions Before Carey— 
Barnes. 

(P) Problems of the 20th Century City—Burr 
25- 

(P) A Study of the City—Hall 14. 

(Pilgrim Press Outline Study Courses.) 

(R) Missionary Enterprise—Bliss. 

(R) Missions in the Plan of the Ages—Carver. 
(R) Modern Missionary Challenge—Jones. 

(R) Appeal of Medical Missions—Moorshead. 
(R) Nineteen Centuries of Missions—Scudder. 
(R) Missionary Principles and Practices—Speer. 
(R) Christianity and Other Faiths—Tisdall. 

(R) Social Task of Christianity—Batten. 

(S) The Conquering Christ—Boone 52. 

May be used as four short courses: 

1. Comparative Religion 13. 

2. Eastern Missions 13. 

3. Western Missions 13. 

4. The Business of Missions 13. 

(W) Money, the Acid Test—McConaughy. 

(Y) Faiths of Mankind—Soper 12. 

All the denominational boards publish text-books 
and other literature pertaining to their own fields. 
So, too, the Missionary Education Movement of 
North America, and the Women’s Council publish 
annually texts covering specific home and foreign 
fields. The following are some typical publications; 

Challenge of the City—Strong 8. 

Challenge of the Country—Fiske. 

Immigrant Forces—Shriver. 

Aliens or Americans—Grose 8. 


96 The Mens Class in Action 

The Bible and Missions—Montgomery 6. 

The Church and the Community—Diffendoerfer 6. 
Christian Americanization—Brooks 6. 

The Why and How of Foreign Missions— 
Brown 6. 

The Kingdom and the Nations—North 6. 

The Lure of Africa—Patton 6. 

The Uplift of China—Smith 8. 

India Awakening—Eddy 8. 

Building with India—Fleming 6. 

The Trend of the Races (Negro)—Haynes. 


Ill: EXAMPLES OF COURSES THAT HAVE BEEN USED 

The courses outlined below have actually been 
used by organized Men’s Bible Classes. It is not 
likely that any one of these courses will suit other 
classes just as they stand, but they do show how 
balanced courses have been planned. The figures 
following the course subjects indicate the number 
of weeks in the course. The number of weeks do 
not always total 52—the weeks not indicated were 
used for Christmas, Easter and Rally Day Pro¬ 
grams or were alloted to special outside speakers. 

Heart of the Old Testament—12 (Bible Outline). 

Mexico To-day—6 (Missions). 

Pastoral Epistles—7 (Intensive Bible Study). 

Challenge of St. Louis—11 (Social Service). 

How We Got Our Bible—9 (Church History). 

(The Influenza epidemic caused the cessation of class 
sessions for five weeks.) 


Building the Study Course 97 

Life of Christ—9 (Bible Outline). 

Epistle of James—9 (Intensive) 

Lure of Africa—8 (Missions). 

Bible Spokesmen for the Kingdom of God—12 
(Social Service). 

Wisdom Literature 11 (B. O. and Intensive). 

International Peace—13 (Christian Life). 

Life of Paul—11 (Bible Outline). 

Immigration—8 (Missions). 

Re-Statement of Baptist Principles—10 (Chris¬ 
tian Life). 

Social Teachings of Jesus—10 (Social Service). 

How to Use Your Bible—13 (Christian Life). 
Challenge of St. Louis—13 (Social Service). 
Bible Biographies—13 (Intensive). 

Story of the New Testament—13 (Bible Outline). 


The Meaning of Service—13 (Christian Life). 
Gospel of John—13 (Intensive). 

Amos—13 (Intensive and Christian Life). 
Survey of Western Missions—13 (Missions and 
Social Service). 

History of Religion—12 (Church History and 
Missions. 

Hebrew Law—6 (Intensive). 

The Family—7 (Christian Life and Social Serv¬ 
ice). 

The Church and the Community—6 (Social 
Service). 

The Bible and Money—6 (Christian Life). 
Romans—13 (Intensive). 


98 


The Mens Class in Action 

Hosea—8 (Intensive). 

Life of Christ—13 (Bible Outline). 

David—13 (Intensive). 

Redemption of the City—8 (Social Service). 
What It Means to be a Christian—8 (Christian 
Life). 

Christian Americanization—6 (Social Service). 
Story of the New Testament—17 (Bible Outline). 
Survey of Baptist Missions—9 (Missions). 

What it Means to be a Christian—11 (Christian 
Life). 

Psalms—7 (Intensive). 

Life of Christ—13 (Bible Outline). 

Baptist Principles—8 (Christian Life). 
Immigration—13 (Missions). 

A Young Man’s Problems—13 (Christian Life). 
The Bible and Money—4 (Intensive). 

It will be seen that in no case has it happened 
that all the five groups of subjects mentioned in the 
previous chapter, have been included in one year’s 
course. While there should be considerable pure 
Bible study in each year’s series, yet it does not fol¬ 
low that there must be an outline course each year 
—the class may find it advisable to skip a year, de¬ 
voting the time to more intensive study. So, too, 
it is hardly likely that there will be a Church His¬ 
tory course each year. If the course is one like 
Proverbs, or James, both intensely practical books, 
the class may not need another Christian Life course 


Building the Study Course 99 

during that season. Each class must decide what 
it is that it needs most, and then plan the course 
accordingly. Class study is always made for the 
class—not the class for the study. The suggestions 
given in this chapter should enable the Teacher or 
Lesson Course Committee to plan suitable, balanced 
courses to give the members the spiritual food they 
need. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 
Wood, “Adult Class Study,” Part II. 


Chapter Seven 


EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP IN THE CLASS 

I: QUALIFICATIONS OF A CLASS PRESIDENT 
Character 

N EXT to the Teacher, the President is the most 
important officer of the class. He is the 
spokesman for the class at all times and by him the 
class is judged. 

The President should first of all and above all be 
a Christian Man. He should be a member of the 
church in which he is working. He should be an 
every day Christian . He should be a man of sin¬ 
cere Christian convictions, a lover of the Bible and 
known for his prayer life. No man without these 
qualifications can hope to be a successful President 
of a class of men in the Sunday School, no matter 
how much executive ability he may have. There 
comes to the writer’s mind the recollection of a 
young men’s Bible Class whose President indulged 
in the most vulgar thinking and in the vilest lan¬ 
guage while outside of the class room. Is it sur¬ 
prising that there was brought upon the class and 
upon its church only ridicule and contempt? 

100 


Executive Leadership in the Class 101 

Executive Ability 

If necessary to choose between a Christian man 
without executive ability and a non-Christian with 
executive ability, the choice should unquestionably 
fall upon the former. The ability to lead and to 
direct is, however, essential to class growth. There 
are many good Christian young men who make 
excellent workers if wisely directed, but who have 
not the ability to lead. These men, unless they 
make strenuous efforts to develop the qualities of 
leadership, will not do good work as class execu¬ 
tives. The President must be able to put every 
member of the class to work; he must be ever alert 
to see that every officer is filling his job to the best 
of his ability; he must have good common-sense 
judgment to meet the many situations that arise 
from week to week in the class; he must have exec¬ 
utive ability so as to plan future work for the class, 
and to see that it is carried to a satisfactory con¬ 
clusion. 

Personality 

Personality, too, should be considered in select¬ 
ing the presiding officer of the class. By person¬ 
ality we mean that which distinguishes or differ¬ 
entiates one—that indefinable something in a man 
which causes him to be liked or disliked. Person¬ 
ality is largely dependent upon the so-called little 


102 The Mens Class in Action 

things of life. The class leader, for instance, 
should be a leader, not a boss. Members ordinar¬ 
ily resent being bossed, but will usually respond 
willingly to the right sort of leadership. To secure 
response the President must first establish a will¬ 
ingness on his own part to serve. Trying to talk 
service into the other fellow without action to back 
it, is a certain means of killing the embryonic 
germ. 

The class President must exhibit a warmth of 
friendship toward each and every member; he must 
be no less interested in the class members than the 
Teacher, for he is a spiritual leader as well as an 
executive. The physical bearing of the President 
must also be watched. His clothes must be kept 
spotless and neat or he will lose the respect of the 
members. He should maintain an erect, alert busi¬ 
ness-like attitude before the class, not lounging on 
tables or other furniture. A drowsy appearance on 
the part of the presiding officer is not likely to stir 
the class to wakeful activity. 

Enthusiasm, energy and initiative are the 
basic elements of good leadership. Coupled closely 
to them is self-reliance. These qualities may not 
all be present in every presiding officer. If all of 
these elements are found in any class President, for¬ 
tunate is the class possessing him. Every class 
leader should strive to develop these qualities, for 


Executive Leadership in the Class 103 

they can be developed by persistence in doing the 
things expected of him. 

Knowledge of the Work 

The class President should have in addition to 
the aforementioned qualifications, a knowledge of 
the aims of the men’s class, its needs, the 
methods of work and the materials with which the 
work is done. He should read all available litera¬ 
ture on the work of the organized Bible Class, mis¬ 
sions, social service, and the like. It would be ad¬ 
visable for the President to visit other organized 
classes occasionally and observe the methods used 
by them. If, because of the needs of the class, the 
President cannot make these visits himself, he 
should delegate some of his assistants to do this 
work. Care should be taken to see that only one or 
two members are away from the class on any one 
Sunday, so that the attendance is not seriously af¬ 
fected. The President should also keep in touch 
with the work of the other departments of the Sun¬ 
day School and the Church. He should be familiar 
with the ideas and ideals being worked out, so as to 
be in a position to lead the class in hearty coopera¬ 
tion with all general plans. 

Knowledge of Membership 

Finally, the President should know the class mem¬ 
bers. He should study each individual man in the 


104 The Mens Class in Action 

class. He should know their likes and dislikes, 
their abilities and limitations. He should be able 
to suggest men as assistants to the several officers 
at any time. The President should aim to see that 
every man is at work as an assistant to some officer. 
It is well in the larger classes to keep a card or note¬ 
book record of the members, their abilities and will¬ 
ingness to serve. 

II. THE SUNDAY SESSION 

The class President has charge of the Sunday 
morning sessions. This is not a part of the 
Teacher’s duty. In too many cases the Teacher, 
who often happens to be the Pastor, opens the class 
session, asks for the reports, makes announcements, 
discusses class business and teaches the lesson. 
Yes, this has actually been known to happen! This 
tendency is bad; it makes the class too much of a 
one man affair. This is also true about the class 
discussions. While the Teacher and the Pastor 
should give their views, and should have them re¬ 
spected, yet the feeling should be encouraged that 
the work of the class is in charge of the class, and 
not wholly in charge of the Teacher. 

Upon the President rests the responsibility of 
keeping the real purpose of the class, Bible study, 
from being eclipsed. He must strive to avoid the 


Executive Leadership in the Class 105 

waste of time entailed by frequent long discus¬ 
sions on business matters. The Teacher’s Time 
Should Be Carefully Guarded. The class ses¬ 
sion should be started on time, if only two are pres¬ 
ent. The announcements should be brief and to the 
point. All secular business should be kept out and 
transacted at the regular business meetings. 

The Sunday session should be of a devotional 
spirit. The class should have a well worked out 
program to be followed. No President should ever 
stand before the class without a definitely planned 
order for the day’s exercises. This order of service 
may be adapted to any needs of the class; no set 
program can be given that will suit all classes. If 
the class meets with the Adult Department, the 
opening worship program will be taken care of 
there. If not, the class must formulate its own 
worship service. This will include singable songs 
that men like, including a class song, devotional 
prayers for the class work and for sick members; 
and possibly a brief devotional message brought by 
some member. Announcements should be made at 
the beginning of the session, so that the Teacher’s 
message is the final impression on the minds of 
those present. The whole worship program should 
be planned to lead the men into an atmosphere to 
receive the lesson of the day. 


106 The Mens Class in Action 

A Typical Class Program 

9:15 President on hand for preliminary consulta¬ 
tion with other officers. 

Vice-President at assembly-room door to 
welcome strangers. 

^Visitor on hand to welcome members. 

(Assistants in class-room to welcome any 
who may come there direct.) 

Librarian distributes Bibles, song books, 
lesson outlines, in class-room. 

Teacher, Treasurer, Reporter, Entertainer, 
arrange charts, announcements on black¬ 
board, etc. 

9:30 Opening worship with Senior or Adult 
Department. 

9:45 Class retires to class-room. 

Secretary at door to pass out attendance 
slips and collection envelopes. 

President calls class to order. 

Prayer by a member. 

^Reports of Vice-President and Visitor 
(brief). 

Welcoming new members and assigning 
prospects. 

Report of Secretary and Treasurer (brief). 

10:00 Class Song. 

10:05 Current Topic Talk—by a member—or 
special devotional feature. 


Executive Leadership in the Class 107 

10:10 Lesson Period. 

10:45 Closing Song and Prayer. 

10:50 Adjourn to Preaching Service. 

Many Presidents are failures in the matter of 
introducing special speakers. These introductions 
should be brief, pointed and snappy. The Presi¬ 
dent should not go into detail regarding the history 
of the speaker. All such details should be taken 
care of in the preliminary advertising. A brief 
statement of who and what the man is and what 
he is to talk about, supplemented by a bright, pointed 
anecdote will usually suffice. After all, the class 
wants to hear the speaker, not the chairman’s long- 
winded introduction. Under no circumstances in¬ 
troduce a speaker by reading a lengthy history of his 
life from notes, as many chairman have been known 
to do. 


Hi: BUSINESS SESSIONS 

Regular business meetings are essential to 
class success. Monthly meetings are desirable, but 
some classes find bi-monthly and quarterly meetings 
entirely satisfactory. One thriving class of busy 
men has semi-annual meetings. Provide for as 
frequent meetings as the members can attend—but 
let them be regular. All class business should be 
transacted at the business meetings, leaving the 


108 The Mens Class in Action 

Sunday service for the study of God’s word. 
The business meeting should be planned just as 
carefully as any Sunday session. The by-laws 
should provide an order of business to facilitate the 
handling of class business. The following is sug¬ 
gested, but may be altered to suit conditions in the 
class. 

1. Call to order. 

2. Prayer. 

3. Reading of minutes of previous meeting. 

4. Reports of officers and special committees. 

5. Unfinished business. 

6. New business. 

7. Elections. 

8. Adjournment. 

9. Social hour. 

As in the case with the Sunday meetings, the bus¬ 
iness meeting should be called to order promptly . 
When the habit of punctuality is once established, 
waste time is eliminated and difficulty regarding 
attendance reduced to a minimum. Foolishness 
should not be a part of the business session. Mem¬ 
bers sometimes feel that the business session should 
be made part of the scheme of entertainment. This 
should not be. By all means have a portion of the 
evening set aside for fellowship and social features, 
but let it be understood that business meetings are 
for business. Many men do not attend business 


Executive Leadership in the Class 109 

meetings for the reason that so much time is wasted 
during the business period, that the social features 
are brought to a close rather late. They do not 
feel that they can afford so much time. As soon as 
our organized classes realize this, the attendance at 
business meetings will increase. 


IV : EXECUTIVE MEETINGS 

Of equal importance with the regular business 
meetings, are the meetings of the executive board. 
The President should make the officers his advisors 
and helpers in all important matters. While each 
officer should be given freedom in the conduct of 
his office, there are class problems and plans that 
demand the attention of all the officers rather than 
some of them. Such matters as a class-day service, 
class banquet, reunion or the like, need the cooper¬ 
ative planning of the whole board. The carrying 
out of the plans as formulated by the board can 
then be left to the individual officers. These details 
of larger plans can be worked out better and more 
expeditiously in an officers’ meeting than in a gen¬ 
eral business meeting. The officers will of course 
submit a completed outline of their work to the class 
for approval. The meetings of the officers should 
be held regularly, once a month if possible, just be¬ 
fore the regular class meeting. 






110 The Mens Class in Action 


VI FUNDAMENTALS OF PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE 

If he is not familiar with parliamentary proced¬ 
ure, the new President should take steps at once to 
learn its rudiments. All business of the class should 
be conducted in accord with recognized principles 
of parliamentary law, the only expeditious way of 
handling class affairs. The following brief out¬ 
line of parliamentary practice, based on King's 
“Practical Parliamentary Guide,” includes those es¬ 
sentials that will enable a President to conduct a 
meeting of the Men’s Bible Class. No elaborate 
system is needed as in state legislatures and the 
Houses of Congress, yet the basis in both cases is 
the same. These suggestions are sufficient for all 
ordinary purposes. 

Before any business can be transacted a quorum 
must be present. The number that shall constitute 
a quorum should be fixed by the by-laws—at least 
2 5 per cent of the class membership should be re¬ 
quired. Without this provision, a very few mem¬ 
bers might very easily manipulate the whole organi¬ 
zation. 

In order to obtain the floor to present a propo¬ 
sition or to speak on a question it is necessary for 
the speaker to arise and address the chairman by 
his official title; the chair will recognize the claim¬ 
ant for the floor by name or by nod. This recog- 


Executive Leadership in the Class 111 

nition is required before any one is entitled to 
present a question or take part in debate. 

To place a proposition before the class for con¬ 
sideration it is only necessary after being recog¬ 
nized to say, “Mr. President, I move that.,” 

stating in simple words the action that is desired. 
No discussion should be permitted before a motion 
has been made. Every principal motion must be 
seconded by another member of the class, or it can¬ 
not go before the assembly, this rule being based on 
the theory that it is unwise to waste the time of the 
assembly on a proposition favored by only one mem¬ 
ber. No principal motion may be made while an¬ 
other motion is before the house, but all principal 
motions are subject to certain motions of higher 
rank. 

The time of class business meetings should be 
fixed by the by-laws. If for any reason the class 
fixes the time from meeting to meeting, a motion 
to set this time takes rank over any other motion 
that may be before the house. This motion re¬ 
quires no quorum, cannot be debated, cannot be 
used to change the time of a meeting already set, 
and is in order even if a motion to adjourn has 
been placed, but the vote not announced by the 
chair. 

As soon as a motion has been made and before 
any debate has taken place, a member may move the 





112 The Mens Class in Action 

question of consideration. No second is required, 
but a two-thirds negative vote is necessary to stop 
consideration of the question. This motion may 
be reconsidered. 

A motion to withdraw the question before the 
house can be made any time before it has been 
amended or voted upon. This motion cannot be 
debated, but may be set aside by an objection to 
consideration. A two-thirds vote is necessary to 
withdraw a motion. 

If a question consists of several separate and dis¬ 
tinct parts, a motion may be made to divide the 
question. If it carries, each separate part is handled 
as a principal motion. No debate or amending is 
permitted on this motion. 

The class has the right to change any proposal 
brought before it by amending the original motion. 
As many as two amendments may be put on one 
motion. If amendments are voted down, others 
may be proposed until two have carried. In vot¬ 
ing, the second amendment is voted on first, then 
the first and finally the principal question with 
whatever changes the class may have made. 

A motion to fix the manner of voting can be used 
on any question, but can be neither debated nor 
amended. 

The previous question is moved in order to stop 
debate. It requires a two-thirds vote to pass and 


Executive Leadership in the Class 113 

cannot be debated, amended, or applied to more 
than one question at a time. The previous question 
does not necessarily force a vote—the principal 
question may be tabled or referred to a department 
head or committee. A motion to refer the ques¬ 
tion may be debated. 

When it is desired to postpone action upon a 
question, after discussion has taken place a motion 
may be made to “lay it on the table/’ which may be 
for a definite time or indefinitely. If tabled in¬ 
definitely it is virtually killing the proposition, a 
motion to take from the table being necessary to 
bring it before the class for discussion. If it is 
desired to postpone action before discussion, a mo¬ 
tion to postpone for a definite or indefinite time is 
required. 

A member may move for the reconsideration of 
a question already acted upon by the class. The 
motion must be proposed by a member of the pre¬ 
vailing side at the time the question was first con¬ 
sidered, but cannot be made during the same 
meeting. 

In order to permit special action that may be con¬ 
trary to the class by-laws or constitution, the class 
may, by a two-thirds vote, move to suspend its rules. 
This motion cannot be amended or debated. 

A motion for adjournment may be made against 
any question before the assembly, but not while a 





114 The Mens Class in Action 

member is on the floor. In case of failure of the 
motion, it cannot be renewed until progress has 
been made. This motion may be debated as a prin¬ 
cipal question only if the time of the next meeting 
has not been set. 

A member may at any time rise to a point of 
personal privilege if he feels that his rights are be¬ 
ing interfered with, or that an attack is being made 
on his character, or if he desires to be excused from 
the meeting for good reason. The chair decides the 
question of privilege, but if it is a case of con¬ 
troversy, the assembly must decide the question 
before business can continue. 

If, in the judgment of some member, a parlia¬ 
mentary law or some provision of the class consti¬ 
tution is being violated he should “rise to a point 
of order.” The chair decides whether or not the 
point is well taken, and if it is, calls the offending 
party to order. 

In all cases of “points of privilege” and “points 
of order,” the members involved may appeal from 
the decision of the chair. In the case of a point 
of order the appeal must be seconded. The chair 
then asks, “Shall the decision of the chair stand?” 
A two-thirds vote should be required to overrule 
any decision of the chair. 

When a member desires information about the 
question being discussed, or about the parliamentary 


Executive Leadership in the Glass 115 

procedure governing the question he should “rise 
to a point of information.” This point takes rank 
above debate. 

A careful study of these few basic rules of par¬ 
liamentary practice will show that they are based 
on common-sense business methods. There are of 
course many refinements to the practice given above, 
with which the President should gradually strive to 
become familiar, but the suggestions given here will 
enable any class President to conduct meetings in 
proper order and without waste of time. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Strickland-McGlothlin, “Building the Bible Class,” 
First Division, Chapter V. 

Strickland, “The Class Officers and Their Work,” 
pp. 4-11. (Leaflet from Sunday School Board—S. B. C.) 

Wells, “The Ideal Adult Class,” Chapter X. 

Barclay, “Adult Worker and His Work,” Chapter 
XVII. 

Blick, “The Adult Department,” Chapter XV. 

Bovard, “Adults in the Sunday School,” Chapters 
VIII, XI, XIII. 

King, “A Practical Parliamentary Guide.” 

Robert, J. T., “Primer of Parliamentary Law.” 

Longan, “Parliamentary Rules Made Easy.” 

Howe, “Handbook of Parliamentary Usage.” 

“The O. A. B. C. at Work”; “ioi Things ioi Bible 
Classes Are Doing” (Leaflets—International Sunday 
School Council.) 




Chapter Eight 


THE CLASS’S SPIRITUAL SERVICE 
HE class President is not only the executive, 



i but the spiritual leader as well. In this branch 
of his work he will, of course, work in close 
harmony with the Teacher. 


i: PERSONAL EVANGELISM 


Requirements 

Contrary to common belief, personal evangelism 
is not a mysterious rite, but simply starting at home 
to fulfill Christ’s last command. A prayer life is 
essential to successful evangelism; without it all ef¬ 
forts fail. Tact is another requisite; patience must 
be used in dealing with prospects. Too much 
should not be expected at once, but if the evan¬ 
gelistic work is well handled, results will be sur¬ 
prising. 

The President should appoint several assistants 
to secure information about the members, their likes 
and dislikes, and their attitudes toward Christian 
profession. These assistants, with the President, 
should endeavor to win the confidence of the un¬ 
saved men of the class. Having done this, it is an 
easy matter to speak to a man about becoming a 


116 


The Class's Spiritual Service 117 

Christian. Fear has been the greatest obstacle in 
the way of greater evangelistic results among men. 
Contrary to a common belief, men usually welcome 
the opportunity to speak of their soul’s welfare. 

The Prayer Circle 

A Secret Prayer and Personal Workers’ Circle 
is one of the best evangelistic assets that any 
class can have. This circle is composed of an in¬ 
timate group of workers, meeting once a month 
under the direction of the President in prayer for 
the unsaved members of the class. The class as a 
whole knows nothing of the circle. Sometimes it 
is possible to have two or more prayer circles at 
one time, none of which know of the existence of 
the other. The meetings of the prayer circle need 
not be long. Several minutes immediately follow¬ 
ing the Sunday morning service will usually suffice. 
Some circles, however, hold regular meetings in 
the members’ homes. The circle should pray in¬ 
dividually for individuals. Evangelistic effort 
backed by the sincere prayers of the Christian mem¬ 
bers of the class is bound to result in an awakened 
spiritual consciousness. 

Community Efforts 

The men’s classes should cooperate in every way 
with all evangelistic efforts in the community. 


118 The Mens Class in Action 

They can be of great assistance in the case of re¬ 
vival meetings. The President should aim to fit 
the work of the class into these larger plans. He 
himself should be a personal assistant to the Pastor, 
helping him with the evangelistic work among men, 
distributing tracts to the unsaved, speaking to 
strangers who visit the church, supplying ushers for 
regular church and special evangelistic services. In 
the class he should urge and encourage regular 
church attendance, and regular attendance at prayer 
meeting. The thought of Jesus Christ and the serv¬ 
ice we owe Him should always be uppermost in the 
mind of the class President. 

II: CLASS DAYS 

Many classes have annual class days, specially 
designated by some as “Men’s Day,” “Baraca Day,” 
“Agoga Day,” or something similar. While the 
general plans are developed by the executive board, 
they are carried out under the personal supervision 
of the President. On this special day, which is 
often the anniversary of the class organization, and 
frequently a class rally day, extra effort is made to 
secure a large attendance of men. 

One strong men’s class has had class days each 
year since its organization twelve years ago. At 
first the special feature consisted only of a sermon 


The Class’s Spiritual Service 119 

by the Pastor to the class at the morning preaching 
hour. A typical day service now includes not only 
the special sermon by the Pastor at the morning 
service, but rally services at the class session often 
with special speakers, and a service Sunday evening 
conducted entirely by the class. Usually four 
speakers, all class members, are on the evening pro¬ 
gram. Some topic is chosen as a Key Topic and 
each speaker presents in ten minutes one phase of 
that topic. Subjects selected are usually evangelis¬ 
tic in their trend, leading to a presentation of Jesus 
as Saviour at the close. All prayers, Scripture 
reading and special music are also taken care of by 
class members. 

At both the morning and evening services the 
entire class marches into the auditorium in a body 
to special seats reserved for them. Usually they 
sing some stirring song as they come in, adding to 
the impressiveness of the occasion. 

A Typical Class-Day Program 

AGOGA DAY PROGRAM 
MAPLEWOOD BAPTIST SUNDAY SCHOOL 

9:45 a.m. Sunday School Worship Program—in 
charge of class President. 

Scripture—(Psalm 46)—Class Mem¬ 
ber. 


120 The Mens Class in Action 


Morning Thought—“Selah’'—Teacher. 
10:00 a . m . Lesson of the morning. 

11:00 a . m . Annual Agoga Sermon—The Pastor. 

Subject: “Restlessness of Youth.” 
8:00 p . m . Annual Agoga Day Service. 

Organ Prelude—Prayer and Response 
—Rockwell 

Hymn—“I Love to Tell the Story.” 
Hymn—“Do You Love Him?” vs. 1, 
3 > 4 - 

Invocation—Class President. 

Scripture—Mark 1:14-20; Mk. 10:17- 
31; Lk. 9:57-62—A Member. 

Prayer—A Member. 

Anthem—“O, Holy Father”— 

Carrie B. Adams 

—Choir. 

Offertory—“Traumerei” — Schumann 
Announcements. 

Hymn—“Oh, Worship the King.” 

Solo—“He Knows the Way”— 

C. S. Briggs 

—A Class Member. 

Talks:—Theme: “Fundamentals of 
Christian Living.” 

1. Church Membership — Class 

President. 

2. Bible Study—Class Member. 


The Class's Spiritual Service 121 

3. Worship—Class Member. 

4. Soul Winning—Class Teacher. 
Hymn—“I Am Thine, O Lord.” 
Benediction—Pastor. 

Postlude—“I Waited for the Lord,” 
from “Hymn of Praise”—Mendels¬ 
sohn. 

The following topics have also been used as the 
basis of class day services: 

1. The Manhood of the Master—Fosdick. 

a. Jesus as a Young Man. 

b. The Master’s Endurance and Self-Re¬ 

straint. 

c. The Master’s Sincerity and Affection. 

d. The Master’s Loyalty to the Cause. 

2. The Young Man and the Church. 

a. When Shall We Start to Serve the 

Master? 

b. How the Church Aids the Young Man. 

c. When Get Young Men? 

d. Our Reasonable Service. 

3. “Not to be Ministered unto, but to Minister” 

—Service. 

a. Love. 

b. Sacrifice. 

c. Training. 

d. The Call to Service. 


122 The Mens Class in Action 

Scripture appropriate to the topic should be se¬ 
lected for the general reading. The individual 
speakers may use portions of this Scripture selection 
on which to base their talks, or they may select 
other appropriate passages. The President will 
usually be one of the four speakers, but should pre¬ 
side at the service in any event. 

Preparation 

The preparation for special class services should 
be careful and thorough. After the assignment of 
the parts to the speakers, several weeks should be 
allowed for their preparation. The speakers should 
then meet to pray over and to discuss the talks in 
order to bring out the strongest points and prevent 
overlapping. All the talks should converge to the 
final talk, which will be in the nature of an invita¬ 
tion to greater service for Jesus Christ. 

Influence of Class Day Services 

Results from class day services are far-reaching. 
They serve to make the class more widely known; 
they stimulate enthusiasm and interest; they give 
members a new vision of Christian service that often 
ends in a decision for the Christian Ministry. Class 
Gospel Teams are often an offspring of these serv¬ 
ices; teams of men that visit pastorless churches 
and hold religious services, organize Sunday 


The Class's Spiritual Service 123 

Schools and young people’s societies; teams that 
visit jails, hospitals, poor houses and bring cheer 
and hope to empty lives; and all told render a 
priceless service in communities where souls hunger 
for the Gospel message. 


Ill: SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE 

The class that fulfills its ultimate mission is 
reaching out daily into the church, the community, 
the world, in an endeavor to serve. These class 
activities are truly spiritual—their extent is a gauge 
of the effectiveness of the teaching. 

The President should be familiar with conditions 
existing in the community, the state and the nation. 
He should direct all community service of the class, 
such as campaigns for better law enforcement, reg¬ 
ulation of pool rooms, elimination of disorderly 
houses, efforts to secure better housing, more play¬ 
grounds, better labor conditions, better treatment 
of cases of juvenile delinquency, a cleaner, more 
worthwhile community. A survey of the commu¬ 
nity will show a field of endeavor beyond concep¬ 
tion. And it is remarkable what a class can ac¬ 
complish in the way of molding public opinion and 
securing remedial legislation if it wills to do it. 
When all the men’s classes of a community, repre¬ 
senting the highest type of men, federate to accom- 


124 The Mens Class in Action 

plish definite service there is brought into being a 
force for righteousness that is simply irresistible. 
Right now one of the biggest tasks before the Chris¬ 
tian men of this country is securing enforcement of 
the prohibition laws upon our statute books—and 
the men in the nation's organized classes are strong 
enough to do it. Still other tasks await them when 
this will have been accomplished. 

Many classes in the cities are cooperating with the 
Big Brother Organizations—helping some boy fight 
against obstacles in his struggle to live a Christian 
life; guiding him through the temptations that sur¬ 
round him; and leading him to a manhood of use¬ 
fulness. Some classes accept the responsibility of 
conducting Americanization classes for foreigners. 
Others assist in social centers and mission schools, 
furnishing teachers, speakers, administrators, musi¬ 
cians, and directors of boys’ work activities. Very 
often the boys’ work in the church of which the 
class is a part, is neglected, and offers a golden 
opportunity for service to the men’s class. 

Classes in smaller towns have even greater op¬ 
portunities for service, for the field is usually in 
greater need of development. There is greater need 
for religious service in Sunday Schools, for develop¬ 
ing trained leadership, for directing boys’ activities, 
for community improvement, establishing libraries, 
reading rooms and social centers, than in the cities. 


The Class’s Spiritual Service 125 

The needs are there—will the organized men’s 
classes just see the needs and then begin work ? 

iv: MISSIONS 

So, too, with missions. The President should 
keep in touch with the missionary activities of the 
Church and Sunday School. It is an excellent plan 
for the class to contribute to missions, preferably 
through the regular Church or Sunday School chan¬ 
nels. Some classes support missionaries, native 
workers, or even entire mission stations. The mis¬ 
sion boards have made it possible for classes that 
can give only ten dollars a year to have part in 
some specific enterprise by means of the station plan. 
Shares in mission stations are issued in any sum 
from ten dollars upward. The shareholding class 
then feels an individual interest in the particular 
station chosen. Letters are received periodically 
from the missionaries at the station, pictures of and 
literature about the station may be obtained. Such 
definite missionary work, plus the regular mission 
study courses will serve to create and develop a 
permanent, living interest in world-wide evangeli¬ 
zation. 

Through class channels missionary and denom¬ 
inational literature may be distributed to the class, 
church and community. The men’s class might 


126 The Mens Class in Action 


well provide the church with a literature rack and 
see that it is supplied with tracts which are supplied 
by the mission boards. This phase of work belongs 
more specifically to the work of the Librarian which 
is to be discussed in a later chapter. 

V: EXTENSION WORK OF THE CLASS 
Correspondence Study 

Many men because of their occupations can only 
attend class sessions at irregular intervals. Some, 
like traveling salesmen, may find it difficult to at¬ 
tend any class for perhaps weeks. Here is a won¬ 
derful opportunity for the class to conduct a corre¬ 
spondence study department for such men. Use 
texts of the Denominational Publication Society, 
University of Chicago and Y. M. C. A. These 
may easily be carried by travelers; the assignments 
are short and interesting; the material is educa¬ 
tional and inspirational. The President should ap¬ 
point an assistant to look after the details of this 
division of his work, to secure reports of work done 
.and offerings. 

Home Department 

An assistant to the President should work to en¬ 
roll all the men of the community, who for any 
reason cannot attend class, in the Home Department 


The Class’s Spiritual Service 127 

of the school. If there is no such department, there 
is no reason why a live class should not assume the 
responsibility for the conduct of a Home Depart¬ 
ment. The men’s class many often cooperate with 
a women’s class in such work to good advantage. 

Teacher Training 

It is natural that the school should look to the 
men’s class for teachers and leaders of boys. A 
leader-training course should be a regular part of 
the extension work of the class. One class held a 
fifteen-week course using as texts Raffety’s “Broth- 
ering the Boy” and See’s “Teaching of Bible 
Classes.” The men who took the work (which was 
given for forty-five minutes before the regular class 
session) felt less reluctant to attempt the teaching 
of classes when offered them. From such a small 
beginning a regular school teacher training class 
might easily be developed. 

VI: IN CONCLUSION 

It will be seen from the foregoing outline that 
the work of the class President is of such impor¬ 
tance that the class must elect its very best man to 
the office. He has vast opportunities. If he will 
persevere and give his best he will set an example 
to the other officers that will be a stimulus to greater 


128 The Mens Class in Action 


effort on their part, and that will result in a greater 
class influence in the community and among its 
young men. No one class will be likely to engage 
in all the activities enumerated in this chapter. 
The class under the direction of its President should 
discover the problems that await solution, and then 
proceed to solve them. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Adult Class Activities (Leaflet—A. B. P. S.). 

Agar, “Church Officers.” 

Agar, “Democracy and the Church.” 
Strickland-McGlothlin, “Building the Bible Class,” 
First Division, Chapter VIII. 

Burroughs, “Winning to Christ.” 

Strickland, “The Class Officers and Their Work,” pp. 
7, 20-23 (Leaflet S. S. B. of S. B. C.). 

“101 Things 101 Bible Classes Are Doing”; “The O. A. 
B. C. at Work” (Leaflets—International Sunday School 
Council). 

“The Civic Program”; “The Town Program”; “Social 
Service by Organized Men”; “The Layman and the 
Kingdom” (Leaflets from Social Service Commission, 
Northern Baptist Convention). 

Rust, “The Church as a Field of Service.” 

Hudson, “The ‘How’ Book.” 

Hutchins, “Graded Social Service in the Sunday 
School.” 

Wells, “The Ideal Adult Class,” Chapters XI, XII, 

XIII, XIV. 

Barclay, “The Adult Worker and His Work,” Chapters 

XIV, XV, XVI. 


The Class’s Spiritual Service 129 

Blick, “The Adult Department,” Chapters XIII, XIV, 
XV, XVI. 

Bovard, “Adults in the Sunday School,” Chapters VIII, 
IX, X. 

Trumbull, “Individual Work for Individuals.” 
Moniger, “How to Build up an A. B. C.,” Chapter 
XVIII. 

Shailer Mathews, “Individual and Social Gospel.” 
Spurgeon, “The Soul Winner.” 




Chapter Nine 


BRINGING IN THE MEN 

I N the departmental plan of organization, the 
Vice-President has a very definite and most im¬ 
portant task to accomplish—building the class 
membership. Too often this office is considered a 
sinecure and a good man is lost to service. The 
Vice-President should aim to make the initials of 
his office, V.P., mean “Valuable Person,” and not 
“Very Poor” as is so often the case. 

i: QUALIFICATIONS OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT 

In general the Vice-President should have the 
same qualities of leadership as the President. His 
work should be characterized by a spirit of strong, 
quiet perseverance, backed by an attractive person¬ 
ality. He must be convincingly friendly and should 
make a spirit of genuine welcome and a feeling of 
cheer fill the class room. 

II: DUTIES AS THE CLASS RECRUITING OFFICER 

Sunday Morning Welcome 

The Vice-President should be the first person 
present at the Sunday morning class sessions, so 
130 


Bringing in the Men 131 

that he may welcome strangers and also give the 
hand of fellowship to the regular members as they 
arrive. If the class is a large one, he may use sev¬ 
eral assistants, stationing one or more at each en¬ 
trance to the school assembly room and the class 
room. The first impression made upon a visitor 
is often the means of winning him for a member. 
If that impression is unfavorable the man may be 
lost not only from the class, but also from the serv¬ 
ice of Christ. This phase of the work should under 
no condition suffer neglect. 

Making Men Acquainted With Each Other 

The Vice-President should seek to make every 
man present acquainted with every other man. 
Special attention should be paid to this at the close 
of the session. At that time an observer will see 
something like this happen: after the closing prayer, 
there will be for a moment an appearance of gen¬ 
eral commotion—men moving around, moving 
chairs, etc. This apparent chaos will then gradu¬ 
ally resolve itself into a number of groups drawn 
together by some common interest. Outside of 
these groups there will usually be several individu¬ 
als, who either because of timidity or because they 
are strangers, will be left by themselves. The Vice- 
President and his assistants should be on the look¬ 
out for those men and see that they are directed to 



132 The Mens Class in Action 

one of the groups or are engaged in conversation 
by assistants during the few social moments that 
remain before church service. The final impres¬ 
sion must be equally favorable with the first im¬ 
pression. To gain members a class must show itself 
friendly. 

It is more difficult for all members to know each 
other in large classes than in smaller ones. One 
class solved this problem by furnishing each mem¬ 
ber with a large celluloid button upon which he 
wrote his name. Between sessions the buttons are 
filed on boards—easily accessible to the men as they 
arrive at the class room. At the sessions, men can 
then call the other members by name —quite a step 
in itself toward more informal fellowship. 

“Follow-up” of Visitors 

Every visitor who attends the class should be 
“foliowed” with a view of making a regular at¬ 
tendant of him. It is the duty of one of the Vice- 
President’s assistants to secure the name, address, 
business, etc., of every visitor who attends. If a 
visitor is permanently located in the community, 
every effort should be made to make a regular mem¬ 
ber out of him. During the week following his first 
visit to the class, a card or letter should be sent to 
him stating that the class was glad that he met with 
them on the preceding Sunday and expressing the 


Bringing in the Men 133 

hope that he liked the class well enough to return 
the following Sunday. The letters should be fol¬ 
lowed by phone calls and personal calls until the 
prospect either joins the class or some other class 
or moves out of town. If the visitor is a transient, 
the card or letter should be sent him anyway. Some 
classes mail all visitors a copy of the class bulletin 
for the two weeks following their visit to the class. 
Such visitors usually carry the story of the class 
and its methods back to their homes and their home 
classes. 


Hi: RECRUITING METHODS 

While cards, letters, phone calls, circulars, posters 
and paid advertisements should be used in recruit¬ 
ing, the surest method of building class membership 
is through the personal touch. It is impossible for 
any Vice-President to make all the calls that will be 
required, personally. He must have a large corps 
of assistants to help in the work and the complete 
cooperation of the entire class membership. 

The “One-at-a-Time” Plan 

The best method of building up class attendance 
known to the writer is the “one-at-a-time” plan, 
first described by Marshall Hudson. 1 Wishing that 

1 Hudson—“The ‘How’ Book.” 


134 The Mens Class in Action 

the class had a large membership, does not bring in 
new members; neither does complaining that the 
men do not come out. There is just one way to,get 
men into the class—Go and get them. By the 
“one-at-a-time” plan, it is possible to build up the 
class membership more quickly than by any other 
method and yet without overworking any member. 
By this plan, attendance is more easily maintained 
—the men who are brought in, come to stay and to 
work. 

When using the “one-at-a-time” method, the 
Vice-President is what an officer should be—the 
director. At least two-thirds of the class members 
should be at the disposal of the Vice-President for 
recruiting. These members are divided into teams 
of seven men each. The other third of the class 
is divided in the same way, but is under the direc¬ 
tion of the Visitor in his work of maintaining the 
attendance. These two officers work together, al¬ 
ternating groups, so that all members will work 
on prospects for part of the time. 

To each team is assigned each week the name of 
one man whom it is desired to bring into the class. 
Each member of the team is assigned one day on 
which he is to visit his group’s prospect. One man 
will call on the prospect Monday, another on Tues¬ 
day, another on Wednesday, and so on through the 
entire week. 


Bringing in the Men 135 

Note now the probable psychologic effect upon 
the prospect. On Monday a class representative 
calls on him at his home or at his place of business 
and merely introduces himself and extends the in¬ 
vitation to visit the class. On Tuesday another 
member will call and extend his invitation. On 
Wednesday the prospect will probably tell the third 
man that two others have already been to see him. 
Let that pass; don’t say “Yes, I know it, and there 
will be three more here during the week.” By 
Thursday the unusually hard prospect will be vis¬ 
ibly impressed and may even remark that the class 
must be pretty much alive; then again the prospect 
may become irritated. Don’t show that it has been 
noticed; and don't argue; just leave the invitation. 
By Saturday the prospect may have been impressed 
sufficiently to say, “I will come out tomorrow if I 
get up in time.” Don’t be elated; this may be said 
merely to get rid of the visitor. The final clincher 
is the Sunday man. On Sunday morning about 
an hour before time for the class to meet, the sev¬ 
enth man goes to the prospect’s home and will most 
likely find him asleep. When awakened he will 
probably say that he would come if he were dressed. 
Then just tell him that he has a whole hour and 
that you are there to bring him to class and will 
wait for him. Nine times out of ten you will ap¬ 
pear at class with your man. 


136 The Mens Class in Action 

If with all the efforts of the group you fail to 
get the man, what then? Give him up? Not 
much! The next week a second team goes after 
him, and another the following week if necessary. 
Marshall Hudson, in “The ‘How’ Book” tells of a 
man who was visited fifty-six times with no appar¬ 
ent results, and then came out after the fifty-seventh 
call. 

If the class is small that need not deter the Vice- 
President from using the plan. If only seven men 
are available change the order of going if necessary 
to send the group after a man the second week. 
Let the Monday man go on Wednesday, and so on. 
In most cases you will have gotten the prospect by 
the end of the second week or he will have moved 
out of town. The great beauty of this plan is that 
it requires no more than fifteen minutes of a busy 
man’s time, one day a week, as the visits are not 
necessarily lengthy social calls. 

Having secured your man, assign him at once to 
a group and let him go after some other man—he 
will enjoy giving some one else the same medicine 
which he received. Gradually as the membership 
increases more groups will be at work and the class 
will grow correspondingly. 

Assuming that each group at work secures only 
one new member a month, out of the possible four, 
a conservative estimate indeed, that means an in- 


Bringing in the Men 137 

crease of one hundred and seventy per cent in 
the membership of the class in one year. What 
class is increasing at that rate under the haphazard, 
artificial methods of stimulation so frequently used? 
To the leaders who work in spurts this plan may 
seem very slow in its results. To such we say, 
“Just give it a trial for three months and then judge 
its value. This plan has been successful wherever 
worked” 

Campaigns 

Special campaigns for members do create tem¬ 
porary enthusiasm and have their place in the 
scheme of class activities. Such flash campaigns 
should never be allowed to take the place of steady, 
determined effort on the part of the Vice-President 
and his assistants. 

One men’s class with a membership of twenty- 
five holds an annual reception for all the men of 
the community—a splendid means of making them 
acquainted with each other and with the class. A 
live speaker, some good entertainment and refresh¬ 
ments are provided; the class officers make talks 
telling what the work of the class means to them; 
the Vice-President and his assistants are on hand 
full force and extend personal invitations to join 
the class. Such a reception usually puts the class 
in touch with a number of new prospects. 


138 The Mens Class in Action 


An annual student’s reception is held each 
autumn by another class, and serves to line up those 
students from out of town who are attending school 
and college in the city where the class is located. 
This reception not only brings a large number of 
students into the class, but performs a real service 
in making strangers feel less strange during the 
first few weeks away from home. 

Rally Day is a logical time for a membership cam¬ 
paign. Effort should be made to secure the attend¬ 
ance of every member past and present, as well as 
prospects. It is better to permit the regular Teacher 
to have the Rally Day lesson hour rather than an 
outside speaker. He needs the inspiration of large 
numbers after weeks of service with a smaller class. 

Anniversaries of the Class Organization offer 
opportunity for special effort to secure the attend¬ 
ance of all former members of the class. A class 
reunion of this nature may be genuinely inspira¬ 
tional. Usually classes hold anniversary celebra¬ 
tions at intervals of five or ten years. 

Easter, Mothers’ Day, Thanksgiving and Christ¬ 
mas also lend themselves very well to special attend¬ 
ance effort. 

Contests 

Frequently the membership campaign takes the 
form of a contest in which points are allotted on 


Bringing in the Men 139 

a basis of new members, visitors, and punctuality. 
As a climax the side receiving the most points in 
an allotted time is usually treated to a supper by 
the losers. Such a contest will bring in large 
numbers during the period of the contest, but when 
the artificial stimulation of the contest ceases 
to exist—most of the new members (?) begin to 
drop away. Oh, yes, such members can be held by 
a continuous plan, such as the “one-at-a-time” 
method—but why not use this method at the begin¬ 
ning? The same amount of effort properly applied 
will secure more permanent results than an “Attend¬ 
ance Contest/’ which results in a cessation of ac¬ 
tivity when it is over. 

The chief weakness of most contests is that 
they are conducted largely for the sake of the con¬ 
test. A certain member of a young men’s class 
thought that a new contest should be started just 
as soon as one had ended. When it came to real 
effort to save souls or work for the betterment of 
the organization, this young man was always some¬ 
where else. 

A spirited contest between a successful young 
men’s class and the young ladies’ class of corre¬ 
sponding ages, illustrates the usual end of this form 
of endeavor. Both classes had an attendance of 
about twenty a Sunday at the beginning of the con¬ 
test. On the fifth Sunday when the contest ended 


140 The Mens Class in Action 

the ladies had ninety-five and the men seventy-four. 

Certain visitors were brought by both classes just 
to count the three points for each. Some hard feel¬ 
ing was created in the allotment of points. The 
losing class gave the winners a banquet, the largest 
to that time held in that particular church, after 
which attendance in both classes reverted to its 
former average. 

There is now offered by the International Sunday 
School Council, the thoroughly sound Four-Square 
contest based on a real service program. It is ar¬ 
ranged for inter-class, inter-city or inter-county 
competition. Wherever properly conducted, per¬ 
manent good has resulted. A leaflet of information 
can be secured from the Council or the State Asso¬ 
ciation offices. 

The few permanent workers gained could have 
been gotten more easily if a business-like system 
had been used. 

Sources of Prospects 

Visitors to the class and church services are al¬ 
ways possible prospects. The Vice-President should 
have assistants at both the morning and evening 
preaching services to meet strangers who may be 
present. The class may conduct a religious census 
or cooperate with the community churches in con¬ 
ducting one. This will be a source of many live 


Bringing in the Men 141 

prospects. The Church Clerk should be consulted, 
and his roll examined—many prospects will be 
revealed in this way. The community might well 
be divided into districts with an assistant to the 
Vice-President in charge of each one, he to watch 
for new families that move into the neighborhood. 
If the men who have just moved into the com¬ 
munity are seen as soon as they move in, the pos¬ 
sibilities of securing active workers is greatly 
enhanced. 


IV: USING THE NEW MEMBERS 

Recognition of New Members 

Many classes have a monthly recognition service 
for the new members—not a “horse play” initiation, 
but a dignified service of just a few minutes duration 
at one Sunday service. Such service need include 
only a few words of welcome from the President 
or Vice-President in order to make the new men feel 
at home and to make them acquainted with the other 
members of the class, and a brief outline of the pur¬ 
pose and aims of the class. At this time the class 
button and other class literature should be given to 
the new men. 

Importance of Putting New Members to Work 
Work is necessary to create and keep up the in- 


142 The Mens Class in Action 

terest in the class. The new man should be made 
to feel that the class can do him good and that he 
in turn can be of service to the class and to the 
Kingdom. New men should be assigned to definite 
work on recruiting teams and as assistants to class 
officers, placing them in positions that will be con¬ 
genial. Many a man has been lost to the Kingdom 
just because he has been brought into the class and 
allowed to wither. Any recruiting plan that does 
not utilize its new members will certainly fail. 

Importance of Wearing the Button 

This should be stressed regularly. The denomi¬ 
national class button, or the International Organized 
Adult Class Emblem establishes a bond of fellow¬ 
ship between Christian men who meet as they travel 
about the city and as they visit in other communi¬ 
ties. Wearing the button helps to advertise the 
class as well as the Organized Class Movement. 
There is the feeling of reality and importance which 
comes from wearing the button. 

v: THE VICE-PRESIDENT AS ACTING PRESIDENT 

The Vice-President should be as familiar with 
the work of the class as the President himself. He 
should have a brief conference with the President 
at least once a week in order to keep in close touch 


Bringing in the Men 143 

with all of the President’s plans. It is of course 
the duty of the Vice-President to preside over the 
class sessions whenever the President is absent. It 
is therefore doubly important that the Vice-Presi¬ 
dent be a regular attendant. Sometimes the Presi¬ 
dent may be called away without having time to 



YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND 

(Eljararter litilfirra 
Ilible (Elaaa 

FOR MEN 

SERVICES ON SUNDAY MORNINGS AT 9.30 


HahtBon Sfrtglftfl 8>mthatj-§£lumi 

CORNER CLAYBROOK AND MONROE 


TAKE MADISON AVENUE 
CANS TO CLAYBROOK 




J.R. Hyde 

INVITED BY 


FIGURE I—CLASS INVITATION 


notify the Vice-President—the latter must be able 
to step into the breach. In ordinary cases the Vice- 
President should always be given notice that he will 
be expected to act. In the event of a prolonged 
absence of the President, due to sickness, the Vice- 
President should preside and relieve the President 
of routine duties without special notice. The im¬ 
portance of regular conferences with the President 
can thus easily be seen. With a live Vice-President 





144 The Mens Class in Action 

there is no need for the class work to stop in the 
case of absence of the President, nor for the burden 
to be thrown upon the Teacher. 

In business meetings the Vice-President may 
often be called upon to preside when the President 
wishes to speak on a motion. It is not good par- 


MAPLEWOOD AGOGA BIBLE CLASS 


- 

Name of Prospetf 

Address 

Presented by 

Remarks 

V-P ProspeU Card 

Follow-Up Assistant 


Calls:- 

Message* 

Visited Class:- 

Joined Class:- 

“Get Another Man” 

Turn Prosper in lo the Vice-President. 


FIGURE 2—VICE-PRESIDENT S PROSPECT CARD 


liamentary practice for the chairman to speak for 
or against a motion from the chair. 


vi: RECORDS 

The Vice-President will find carefully kept rec¬ 
ords of valuable assistance. He should record the 
names and addresses of all visitors and other pros¬ 
pects; dates of cards, letters, phone and personal 








Bringing in the Men 145 

calls; records of the results secured by the several 
teams; and records of all prospects who join the 
class. Such records will enable him to follow up 
his prospects effectively and to make comprehensive 
reports of the work done by his department. If 
such records are available a new Vice-President will 
find his path much smoother. The forms herewith 
(Figures i and 2) are some that have been used by 
class Vice-Presidents to good advantage. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Strickland & McGlothlin, “Building the Bible 
Class,” pp. 60-61. 

Hudson, “The ‘How’ Book,” pp. 33-50. 

Moninger, “How to Build up an A. B. C.,” Chapters 
IV, VIII. 

Barclay, “The Adult Worker and His Work,” Chapter 
XVIII. 

Wells, “The Ideal Adult Class in the Sunday School,” 
Chapter VII. 

“The Four-Square Adult Bible Class Campaign” (Free 
leaflet—International S. S. Council). 


Chapter Ten 


HOLDING THEM 


i: THE MAN IN CHARGE OF THE WORK 

HE men’s class must not only work to in¬ 



crease its attendance—it must maintain the 


attendance of those already on the membership 
rolls. This is usually a harder task than bringing 
in new members. In its complete sense the purpose 
of the class must be “to have, and to hold” For 
this important work the Visitor is responsible. 

The Visitor must have the same qualifications as 
the Vice-President, but to an even greater degree. 
He must be blessed with the gentle persistence of 
an insurance salesman and a tenacity of purpose 
that is not thwarted by superficial excuses. He 
must possess the tact of a diplomat—the Bible class 
is the place where “feelings” are tenderest—where 
hurts and insults are inflicted with greatest ease and 
wounds healed with greatest difficulty. The class 
will of course select for Visitor a man of magnetic 
personality—one who can mix with men, and one 
who will take some time from mere worldly pleas¬ 
ures to actually go out and mix with them. Jok¬ 
ingly speaking, the Visitor is the class truant 


146 


Holding Them 147 

officer, but he performs his functions, not with the 
aid of police authority but by creating a new and 
deeper love for the class. 


II: MAINTAINING A HIGH AVERAGE 
Follow of Absentees 

A regular follow of all absentees is absolutely 
necessary if the class attendance is to be maintained 
at a proper level. An absence should never go un¬ 
noticed. The Visitor will use various methods of 
making his follow, using his best judgment as to 
what method to use on the different individuals. 
At least a post-card (personally written, not a 
printed form) should be sent to the absentee during 
the week following his first absence. This should 
carry a greeting from the class, regrets at the 
absence and the hope that nothing serious is wrong, 
and that he will be out the following Sunday. If 
the absence continues, a personal letter should be 
sent the second week. No absence should continue 
for more than three weeks without a personal call 
from the Visitor or one of his assistants. Such a 
call is much to be preferred following the second 
absence. The telephone will be frequently used, as 
occasion warrants. 

Unless it is known that a man can be present only 
every other Sunday or the like, it should be assumed 




148 The Mens Class in Action 


that absence is due to illness or other serious reason, 
and a strenuous effort should be made to determine 
what that reason is. In case of serious illness many 
classes send flowers, this being left to the discre¬ 
tion of the Visitor himself. The class must show 
some concern about the absent member each week 
that he is absent or very soon that member will 
show but little concern about the class. 

Absentees should be kept informed regarding the 
class work at all times. If the class issues a bul¬ 
letin, a copy should be mailed to every absent 
member. This may be done under the Visitor’s 
own direction or as is suggested in a later chapter, 
by the Librarian. One Visitor during mission study 
courses, tied up his work to the teaching, by using 
post-cards showing views of the mission field being 
studied. Such cards are supplied by the mission 
boards at very reasonable prices, and offer oppor¬ 
tunity for a desirable variation from regular cards. 

The Visitor’s wits will be greatly taxed in the 
case of members who have supposed reasons for 
non-attendance—all delinquents should be urged to 
state frankly why they do not attend. The Visitor 
should impress on them the importance, both to 
themselves and to the class, of a closer affiliation. 
He should invite criticism and also suggestions 
showing that only in this way can the class hope to 


Holding Them 149 

improve. In many cases the only excuse for non- 
attendance that a member can give is that he sleeps 
late Sunday mornings. An early rising visiting staff 
can easily remove this cause of absenteeism. 

To carry on his work with promptness and 
thoroughness, the Visitor needs a large corps of 
assistants working under his direction. He will 
advise the entire class of his plans, using at least 
one-third in definite visiting service according to the 
“one-at-a-time” plan outlined in Chapter IX—a 
plan that works equally well with old members and 
with prospects. 

Rally Days 

Rally and other special days are harvest time for 
the class Visitor. For such occasions he should 
enlist the entire class membership to secure a banner 
attendance. No rally day efforts will however be 
worth anything if efforts are not continued after 
the actual rally day has passed. A special drive 
will bring out many irregular attendants, but con¬ 
sistent and persistent effort is needed to perma¬ 
nently maintain a healthy attendance. 

Stunts 

One class organized what was known as “The 
Old Guard,” a group of members who pledged the 


150 The Mens Class in Action 


Guard leader, “The Old Scout,” to be present every 
Sunday unless sick or absent from the city. In this 
way a working nucleus was formed that could be 
depended upon to be present every Sunday. No one 
was urged to join The Old Guard unless he was will¬ 
ing to make the pledge and to keep it. This plan 
stimulated attendance for quite a period. All 
novelty plans lose their power after being used for 
some time. When that happens it is better to adopt 
something new rather than try to revive a dying 
stunt. 


Ill: STIMULATING PUNCTUALITY 

Nothing disturbs a class session more than the 
entrance of tardy members. The Visitor in coopera¬ 
tion with the President and Secretary should strive 
for one hundred per cent punctuality. This is de¬ 
manded in business—it can be secured in Sunday 
School classes. 

From time to time the Visitor will use various 
“Stunts” to call particular attention to those who 
are on time. One such officer drew a large clock 
upon the blackboard, with the opening time in red 
chalk. An assistant stood at the door and called 
out the names of the first twenty men who arrived 
on time, while the man at the board wrote down the 
names. This was a very effective way of calling 



Holding Them 151 

attention to the punctual men. In the small class 
it may be desirable to omit the calling of the 
names. Another plan, suitable for either large or 
small class, is the Flag Stunt. Each man present 
on time is given a small flag as he enters the class 
room. Sometime during the morning the Visitor 
calls for a waving of the flags, and emphasizes the 
fact that these men with flags were on time. Psy¬ 
chologically such plans are of considerable value in 
stimulating punctuality. 


IV : MEMBERS WHO MOVE AWAY 

The class should not lose interest in its members 
when they move from the community. The Visitor 
should find out, if possible, the destination of the 
member and should give him a letter of introduc¬ 
tion to the corresponding class or to the Pastor of 
the church of the same denomination in his new 
home community. It is desirable that he write to 
the Pastor himself, if known, so that the member 
may quickly take his place in religious work. It 
is very easy for one to get out of the habit of Sun¬ 
day School work when moving to a new com¬ 
munity. The class's responsibility in seeing that its 
members are in active service does not cease until 
the new organization is notified that a new worker 
has moved into their neighborhood. 


152 The Mens Class in Action 


v: EMPLOYMENT BUREAU 

Many men’s classes operate an employment 
bureau for the benefit of the class members. Such 
activities are usually placed under the direction of 
the Visitor, to be handled by one of his assistants. 
In large classes and classes connected with large 
churches, a bureau can give excellent results within 
its church organization. Small classes will usually 
find it desirable to cooperate with other classes and 
Y. M. C. A. organizations to make it a worthwhile 
proposition. An employment bureau should be in 
charge of a live man, who will see that its aims and 
purposes are kept before all church members, espe¬ 
cially those who are employers, and before the busi¬ 
ness men of the community at large. Properly 
handled the employment bureau may be a very 
valuable asset to the class in its work of getting 
new members and holding old ones. Here is one 
way in which the class may show that it believes 
in the helpfulness and Christian brotherhood of 
which it teaches. 

vi : the visitor’s records 

Like the other officers of the organized class, the 
Visitor will keep records so that he and the class 
may be informed regarding the work of his de- 


Holding Them 


153 


CALL REPORT 

Agnga Htblr (Hlaas 

THIRD BAPTIST CHURCH 


ST. LOUIS, MO.,--191... 

Phone No..—--—---_»-- 

Object of Call—--—--——--..-....- 

Last in Class----—.... 


Date of Call, ——...191. 


Report... 


Signed ... 


FIGURE 3—CALL REPORT FOR VISITOR 






















154 The Mens Class in Action 

partment. He will want a card record of the names 
and addresses of all members. On this card should 
be provided spaces for recording the absence of a 
member on any date, and for noting the methods 
used to follow him. Such a record may be as sim¬ 
ple or as complicated as the Visitor desires. A 
standard 3" x 5" ruled card is all that is needed. 
Write the member’s name, home and business ad¬ 
dress, and home and business phone at the top. 
When the member is absent, note that fact with the 
date, then follow with entries showing the date on 
which cards were sent, letters mailed, phone calls, 
personal calls by self or assistant and assistant’s 
name. 

Excuses given by the absentee should by all 
means be noted. A salesman listed on cards all the 
possible excuses a prospect could give for not buy¬ 
ing, with the answers to them. When the excuse 
was given he merely pulled out his card and pre¬ 
sented the refutation. The Visitor will find this 
plan novel and result getting. 

The Visitor should also keep individual card 
records of the work done by his various assistants, 
so that he can give encouragement as may be 
needed. Plain cards may also be used for this pur¬ 
pose—the assistant’s name at the top, with his as¬ 
signments and the result of his effort noted below. 
The Visitor must demand definite written reports 


Holding Them 155 

from each assistant regarding the definite assign¬ 
ments that have been given him. Figure 3 illustrates 
an assignment and report blank that has been used 
successfully. 

It requires but little imagination to see the value 
of such records to the Visitor. The value to a new 
Visitor just taking up the duties is even greater, for 
he will have noted for his use, the accumulated ex¬ 
perience of the previous men in the same office. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Strickland and McGlothlin, “Building the Bible 
Class,” pp. 61-62. 

Barclay, “The Adult Worker and His Work,” Chap¬ 
ter XVIII. 

Bovard, “Adults in the Sunday School,” Chapter V. 


Chapter Eleven 


CLASS RECORDS 

i: THE CLASS SECRETARY 

R ECORDS bear the same relation to the Bible 
Class, as the gauge does to the boiler or the 
accounting system does to modern business. The 
class that does not keep accurate records is like 
a ship without its compass—it goes, but no one 
knows in what direction, nor at what moment it 
may hit rock and meet destruction. The class Sec¬ 
retary is a torch-bearer occupying an enviable posi¬ 
tion from which he may survey the work of the 
class, observe its trend and point out by definite 
facts, before the danger point is reached, where im¬ 
provement may be made. By the light of his sta¬ 
tistics he leads the class onward and upward to 
greater success. 

The man selected for the office of Secretary 
should be one who has more or less liking for sec¬ 
retarial work—not necessarily a bookkeeper, but 
one who has a love for statistics. The Secretary 
should see the value of comparative statistics—he 
should have an analytical mind to see quickly 
how facts can be used for the best interest of the 
class. He should be able to compile comprehensive 
156 


Class Records 157 

reports showing class growth. These reports to be 
of value must be accurate—no omissions due to 
absence. The Secretary should have a reputation 
for neatness; the class ought not be ashamed to 
show its reports to any one at any time. 


II: RECORDS STATISTICAL 

The attendance record is the barometer of class 
progress. The Secretary should let nothing inter¬ 
fere with the keeping of accurate records of attend¬ 
ance, at the Sunday sessions, at business meetings 
and at meetings of the class officers. If he is unable 
to be present at any class meeting he should satisfy 
himself that one of his assistants will be there to 
take care of his work for him. Records are value¬ 
less if incomplete. 

No records should be kept merely for record's 
sake—record only the information that can be used. 
The minimum requirements should include number 
present, the names of those present, number and 
names of visitors, a record of those present on time. 
Other information will be secured as the class finds 
use for it. 

Securing Attendance 

Methods of securing the attendance information 
vary in different classes. In no case should valuable 


158 The Mens Class in Action 

time of the session be taken to conduct roll call. 
In small classes the Secretary will probably know 
all the members and can check off his attendance 
without bothering any one, names of visitors being 
secured from the Vice-President after class session. 
In one small class of about forty members, the class 



FIGURE 4—MEMBER'S INDIVIDUAL WEEKLY REPORT 


issued a weekly bulletin containing a complete mem¬ 
bership roll on the last page. The Secretary of that 
particular class simply checked off the names of 
those present, on this bulletin each Sunday, trans¬ 
ferring this record to his permanent record, later 
in the week. A larger class with a membership of 
two hundred and fifty, uses a printed envelope with 
spaces for name, address, daily Bible reading and 
amount of offering, and in the case of visitors, the 


















159 


Class Records 

home address and church. Each attendant receives 
and marks his envelope and deposits his offering. 
The Secretary receives these envelopes just as soon 
as the Treasurer removes the offering, and secures 
an accurate count of the day’s attendance. Still 
other classes use the “six-point” system (published 


-ACQCA_ALllldHI_CLASS CARD 

ADULT: _DEPARTMENT___GRADE. MONTH__Qot 



ht SUNDAY 

id SUNDAY 

|1 9d SUNDAY 

«th SUNDAY 

6th SUNDAY 

No. 

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Grade 

NAME 

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George Dever 

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G. Willis 

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H.T.Xemper 

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Amount of Offering, 



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FOAM 30. BAPTIST SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD. NASHVILLE, TCNN. 


FIGURE 5—SIX-POINT CLASS RECORD CARD. 

FURNISHED IN LOOSE-LEAF FORM FOR LARGER CLASSES. 

by Sunday School Board, Nashville, Tenn.), using 
a record card which is marked in the same manner 
as the envelope. This particular card (Figure 4) 
has space not only for the name and address, but also 
for marking other important information such as 
punctuality, offering made, Bible brought, daily 
Bible reading, and attendance at preaching service* 























































































160 The Mens Class in Action 

It is easily seen that such a record, faithfully kept 
is an asset to every officer. 

Permanent File 

All records obtained at the class meetings should 
be transferred to a permanent record. One of the 


Secretary’s Attendance Card ___19, 

Name ___- __ Christian _____ 

Home Address - Married _ 



FIGURE 6—SECRETARY’S PERMANENT ATTENDANCE RECORD 


very best is the card record (Figure 6), published by 
the American Baptist Publication Society, contain¬ 
ing space for recording the member’s name, ad¬ 
dress, phone, business address, whether married or 
single, whether a Christian, and also space for one 
year’s attendance. Such a record can always be 
kept clean of dead timber, all removed members 
being transferred to an “Old Member File.” 





























161 


Class Records 

Records of Business Meetings 

Accurate records should also be kept of the at¬ 
tendance of class officers at the officers’ meetings, 
and of all the members at the regular business meet¬ 
ings. Does the class President know who is regular 
at the business meetings, and who is always on 
time? Does he know how often his officers have 
missed cabinet meetings? Does the Entertainer 
know what the average attendance is at business 
meetings, and who is regular? If he does, it will 
help him decide on the refreshments, and in mak¬ 
ing up a program. Records of business meetings 
indicate very clearly why certain class work is not 
developing as it should. These facts regarding 
these two important meetings can be presented to 
the class and will usually bring about desired im¬ 
provement. 

Enrollment Records 

One of the most important records that the Sec¬ 
retary will keep is that of information about the 
class members. While each officer will keep some 
individual record pertaining to his own department, 
the Secretary will keep a complete record of all the 
information that he can secure, recording it on 
cards or on individual sheets in a loose leaf book. 
(See Figure 7.) Such a record should contain 
name, address, business and business address, home 


162 The Mens Class in Action 

and business phone, married or single, living at 
home or boarding, hobby, activities preferred, and 
in the case of new members, the church, class and 
town from which they came. Such information is 
valuable to all officers. The Teacher can base lesson 
assignments on the information given, the Enter- 


^Maplewood Agoga Bible Class . 

Name-—'—. t—— — ------- 

Residence------- 

Business Address--—-- 

Occupation---.—---- 

Married, Church Member... 

Previous Church Connection----- 

Church Preference--—,--.- 

Activities Preferred....—---- 

Willingness to participate..... 

Res. Phone--- Bus. Phone- 

Date joined Class------ 

Remark on other Side. 


FIGURE 7—ENROLLMENT CARD 

tainer will base his activities on the facts shown by 
the record, and so with the other officers. The Sec¬ 
retary should make every effort to keep this record 
absolutely up-to-date, for every officer will from 
time to time want this information, particularly that 
pertaining to addresses and phone numbers. An 
out-of-date record is really worse than none at all 
as it results in waste effort and waste postage. 





















163 


Class Records 

Withdrawal Records 

No man’s name should ever be stricken from the 
class roll unless he has moved from town, joined 
another class or died. The reason for every with¬ 
drawal should be noted on the member’s enrollment 
card—it is dangerous to drop men who might be 
re-enlisted in class work if effort were made. 

Birthday Records 

Some classes keep a chronological record of 
birthdays, and mail cards to each member on his 
birthday. 

School Records 

In many cases some records mentioned are kept 
by the Secretary of the Sunday School of which 
the class is part. The class Secretary will cooperate 
with the school Secretary in every way to avoid 
duplicate effort. 

Using the Records 

Reports, no matter how complete, are of little 
value if just kept in the Secretary’s record file. 
Using the statistics is two-thirds of the live Secre¬ 
tary’s job. The weekly attendance record should 
be placed upon a blackboard ruled for the purpose, 
and commented upon briefly by the Secretary. 
Each member should receive monthly or at least 


164 The Mens Class in Action 


quarterly a summary report from the Secretary, 
showing the number of times present or absent, the 
number of times late, etc., with a suggestion that 
the record be improved, or a word of commenda¬ 
tion for a good record. Frequent summaries 
should be prepared for distribution, publication in 
the class paper, or posting on the blackboard. The 
Secretary occupies a strategic position in the depart¬ 
mental scheme of organization; he can greatly help 
his class by rendering full cooperation to the other 
officers. 

As soon as a new member is voted into the class, 
the Secretary should have him fill in his enrollment 
card. A card containing the information desired 
by the Teacher will be made out and given to him, 
as will also one for the Treasurer. A copy will 
also be made for the General Secretary of the 
School. 

Each week and as early in the week as possible, 
the Secretary should see that the Teacher, Presi¬ 
dent and the Visitor are given the attendance record 
of the previous week, including the names of all 
the absentees. These officers can then put forth 
their best efforts to bring back the absent members. 
The Teacher, President, and Vice-President should 
also receive a list of visitors, so that they may fol¬ 
low them and try to make regular members out of 
them. If the class publishes a class paper or uses 


165 


Class Records 

space in the church bulletin or local papers, the Sec¬ 
retary will consider that a fertile field for his en¬ 
deavors. He should see that the Reporter is fur¬ 
nished with attendance facts for each Sunday, and 
also comparative statistics for publication. Some 
classes run a tabulation in their class papers which 
shows the attendance for the previous Sunday com¬ 
pared with the same Sunday one year before, the 
average attendance to date and for the preceding 
year, the number of “on timers,” visitors, daily 
Bible readers, signed contributors and amount of 
offering. One class designates this part of its paper 
as “The Ticker,” another, “The Class Pendulum.” 
In one men’s class the Secretary furnishes the Re¬ 
porter a monthly list of those attending every Sun¬ 
day during the month. These names are published 
as an honor roll. A list of the daily Bible readers 
for the month is also stimulating. Such facts sim¬ 
ply bristle with interest not only to the members, 
but to visitors, and others who receive the class 
publication. 

The good Secretary will have all this information 
handy, for use at any time that he may be called 
upon to furnish it. He will be called upon fre¬ 
quently by the Sunday School and the Church for 
class records to be incorporated in complete records 
which are presented to district and state associa¬ 
tions ; these statistics should be correct. 


166 The Mens Class in Action 


hi: records historical 

By “Historical Records” we mean minutes of 
meetings, records of special occurrences and the like. 
The Secretary should keep complete though not 
necessarily voluminous records of every class meet¬ 
ing. First, of course, will naturally come the regu¬ 
lar class business meetings. Secretaries sometimes 
make the mistake of attempting to record almost 
verbatim all discussions of such meetings. Nothing 
will tend to make a Secretary discouraged as much 
as the laborious effort of keeping such a record. 
The purpose of the class minutes is to record class 
action. Discussion leading to such action is rarely 
of sufficient importance to be included in the min¬ 
utes of a class business meeting. All that is neces¬ 
sary is a brief record of the motion as stated, with 
the name of the mover and the seconder if desired, 
and the action taken by the class. 

Similarly brief records should be kept of the 
Sunday morning sessions. In these meetings there 
will be very few motions to record, but there will 
be other business worthy of note. Attendance 
should be recorded and also the weather. Brief 
mention should always be made of talks by special 
speakers, and even the regular lesson subject might 
be given. 

Officers’ meetings differ from business meetings,- 


Class Records 167 

in that there is little formal business, but consider¬ 
able discussion. The Secretary should record the 
substance of all discussion taking place, but as cau¬ 
tioned previously should not attempt to give a 
lengthy account of every point. 

The Secretary will virtually be a class historian. 
His minutes will in many respects check his sta¬ 
tistical record. The minutes if properly prepared 
will show just what the class has done at each period 
of its history. All special events will be mentioned 
and briefly written up. Copies of the constitution 
and by-laws, programs of class services of a special 
nature, and of class entertainments will be pre¬ 
served, not only as mere history, but so that the 
past may be a guide for the future. 


IV: CLASS CORRESPONDENCE 

While some of the details in connection with the 
record keeping should be delegated to assistants, the 
class correspondence will usually be handled by the 
Secretary himself. Unless the class is so small as 
to have but a few officers, the Secretary will not 
send out notices of meetings nor conduct direct-by¬ 
mail recruiting campaigns. The Visitor, Vice- 
President, Entertainer and Reporter will carry on 
most of the correspondence within the class. In 
case of necessity, the Secretary will, of course, co- 


168 The Mens Class in Action 

operate with all other officers to the extent of his 
time and ability, but he should not be expected to 
carry on two officers’ work at one time. Local con¬ 
ditions may make some changes advisable, but on 
the whole it will be best for the Secretary to con¬ 
fine his efforts to records and outside corre¬ 
spondence. 

If it can afford it, the class should have station¬ 
ery printed with the class name, address, motto, 
emblem and the officers’ names. This might even 
be furnished to class members for personal corre¬ 
spondence, as a class advertisement. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

McIntyre, “The Sunday School Secretary. ,, 

Strickland and McGlothlin, “Building the Bible 
Class,” pp. 48-53* 


Chapter Twelve 


CLASS FINANCES 

i: THE TREASURER 

The Giving Attitude 

U PON the class Treasurer rests not only the re¬ 
sponsibility of collecting money, but also of 
stimulating a right attitude toward giving. In pro¬ 
moting the grace of liberality he will appeal not 
primarily to class loyalty or loyalty to a special cause 
being fostered, but rather to the man’s sense of 
duty—his obligation to God, who has given him all 
that he has. Regular and systematic giving, with 
the tithe as the minimum for religious purposes, 
should be the Treasurer’s ideal for each member. 

Qualifications 

For the office of Treasurer, the class should select 
a man largely because of his outstanding business 
ability. Here, of all places, it is important that 
business methods be used to bring results. 

It is only by using tact that the Treasurer will 
be able to encourage regularity, liberality. He 
must know how to approach the members who think 
that they are not earning enough to become regular 
169 


170 The Mens Class in Action 


contributors and how to remind members who are 
delinquent in paying pledges, without appearing too 
persistent. 

The Position of Treasurer is a Christian calling 
in the strongest sense. Whereas the President will 
emphasize personal consecration, the Treasurer will 
emphasize “Purse and All” consecration. It is only 
consistent that he set the example by contributing 
regularly, and in so far as he is able, generously. 

The man who is selected for the office of Treas¬ 
urer should have an excellent record as a regular 
attendant. The difference between a Treasurer who 
is always on hand, and one who is indifferent, is 
just the difference between a financially sound or¬ 
ganization and one that always is a little behind in 
meeting its obligations. In one class with an 
average attendance between fifteen and twenty, 
a certain Treasurer collected sixty dollars a year in 
monthly dues alone. In the following year with a 
less regular attendant in charge, collections of dues 
fell to twenty dollars, with no drop in membership. 
The first Treasurer was on the job every Sunday . 
The men who were absent the first Sunday, he 
reached on the second, third or fourth Sunday; 
the second Treasurer passed collection envelopes to 
members on the first Sunday of the month only— 
and missed all those who were absent on that Sun¬ 
day, but who attended later in the month. 


Class Finances 


171 


II: CLASS FUNDS 

Sunday Offerings 

The regular Sunday morning offering belongs to 
the Sunday School and should be used according 
to the plan of the School. The organized classes 
are part of the school and subject to its rules and 
regulations. Adult classes often think of them¬ 
selves as separate departments rather than only a 
small unit of a larger organization. The Treasurer 
and other officers should make every effort to im¬ 
press this fact upon class members who have a 
wrong perspective. 

Many schools authorize the organized classes to 
buy their own supplies and to retain a portion of 
the Sunday collections for that purpose. Some 
classes retain the collections on the odd Sundays of 
the month, while the school takes the offerings of 
the even Sundays. Others divide all collections 
evenly. 

In other cases the classes simply ask the Sun¬ 
day School to state what is expected of them dur¬ 
ing the year and pay that much, retaining all offer¬ 
ings above that amount. The ideal way is to turn 
all the Sunday collections into the Sunday School 
treasury and permit the school to purchase the class 
supplies, just as they are purchased for all other 
classes. Whatever arrangements are made, should 


172 The Mens Class in Action 

be acceptable to the school, not dictated by the 
class. 

Class Dues 

There are always expenses in connection with 
organized class work, aside from the cost of les¬ 
son material, entertainments, class social service, 
flowers, stationery, and the like. Many classes 
meet such expenses by having monthly dues. No 
attempt should be made in a Bible class to fix 
dues, unless they are low enough that even the poor¬ 
est member will be able to pay them. The method 
to be preferred is a voluntary pledge to pay a cer¬ 
tain amount each month until the pledge is canceled. 
The tactful treasurer will be able to suggest the 
amount to any member who does not know just 
how much he should pay. The By-Laws of one 
men’s class provides for monthly dues of twenty- 
five cents if the member can pay it, but emphasizes 
the fact that the dues are voluntary. 

It will be well for the Treasurer to provide a 
special class envelope for the collection of the dues, 
this to carry the class name and emblem, name of 
the member, date and amount due. Sometimes a 
man may find it inconvenient to pay just at the time 
that the envelope is given him; he can then put it 
in his pocket as a reminder for later payment. The 
tactful Treasurer will not be too insistent about 


Class Finances 173 

class dues. If a month’s dues are unpaid, he may 
simply note the unpaid total on the following 
month’s envelope. Such a plan can hardly give 
even the most indifferent member an idea that 
money is all the class wants. 

Advertising Funds 

Many classes that issue class papers secure ad¬ 
vertising to cover the cost of publication. It usu¬ 
ally falls to the Treasurer’s lot to secure the adver¬ 
tisements and also to collect for them. While the 
ideal class paper is free from advertising, yet be¬ 
cause of the expense of publishing, it may be neces¬ 
sary to accept some ads. Care should be taken 
to accept only clean copy, and not as in one actual 
instance, a pool room ad. The Treasurer should 
try to make the advertising pay for the paper— 
but the class should try to make the advertising pay 
the advertiser. Speaking from the standpoint of 
an advertising man, this sort of advertising hardly 
ever does pay the advertiser. 

Payment of Bills 

All money passing through the class should go 
through the Treasurer. He should open a class 
account in a local bank for the deposit of class 
funds, and for sake of record should make all pay¬ 
ments by check. Under no circumstances should 


174 The Mens Class in Action 

class funds be deposited in any officer’s personal 
account—mistakes are too easily made. All bills 
should be presented to the Treasurer for payment. 
Only confusion results if individuals are permitted 
to purchase supplies and pay for them. No indi¬ 
vidual should ever purchase supplies unless previ¬ 
ously authorized by the class to do so. It is much 
better for the Treasurer himself to place all orders, 
for then checking bills is easy. The Treasurer will 
include all paid bills in his monthly report to the 
class. Some classes require all bills to be counter¬ 
signed by the President before payment, as an extra 
check. 


Ill: THE BUDGET SYSTEM 

If the class is to be run on a business basis busi¬ 
ness methods must be used. Nowhere has there 
been less business discernment in religious organiza¬ 
tions than in the field of finance. Note the num¬ 
ber of special collections taken in church organiza¬ 
tions every year—repeated calls upon the member¬ 
ship for contributions to meet some unforeseen 
need. The writer has many times seen the ap¬ 
proach of the baseball season, with its sudden en¬ 
thusiasm for a class ball team. Then came the 
inevitable special drive for funds to buy uniforms, 
pay entrance fee to the Sunday School League, etc. 
And so with many other class activities. 


Class Finances 175 

To attain best results the class should survey 
its probable needs for the year and plan a budget 
to cover those needs. In forming the budget, the 
past year’s activities will be a guide as to the possi¬ 
bilities of the next year. The class should consider 
whether the money raised during the past year rep¬ 
resented ioo per cent possibilities—usually it will 
not have done so. All the usual and some unusual 
needs should be provided for in the budget. Include 
the agreed-upon offering to the Sunday School, cost 
of class lesson material, new equipment, entertain^ 
ment at the regular business meetings, the athletic 
program, general entertainments, lyceum courses, 
up-keep of the class room, contribution to church 
building needs, social service, sending flowers to sick 
members, thanksgiving offerings and missions. 

After the class has voted to adopt the budget, 
the Treasurer should urge all members to support 
it strongly. A special financial Sunday might be 
planned with a drive to secure sufficient pledges to 
underwrite the budget. The Treasurer will make 
personal calls on those members who will not be 
reached on the special Sunday. In carrying out the 
plans, appeal in all cases to the higher motives of 
duty in securing pledges. Printed sets of class 
envelopes in cartons may be given to the members 
to facilitate making regular offerings. If such a 
budget plan is worked, regular giving will be stim- 


176 The Mens Class in Action 

ulated, there will be no undue hardship placed upon 
any member, no special calls during the year, and 
always enough money on hand to meet class needs. 

In the more progressive churches the class budget 
is made part of the general Sunday School budget, 
which in turn becomes part of the budget of the en¬ 
tire church. Then instead of a member contributing 
to the church and separately to his class, he makes 
but one annual pledge, and but one weekly offering. 
This plan makes it convenient for members, and 
unifies the church program. Adult class Treasurers 
will contribute greatly toward church progress by 
starting movements in their local churches for the 
adoption of this plan. * 


iv: the treasurer’s records 

As attendance records have been shown to be 
important, so too are financial records—both for 
purpose of having information regarding individual 
contributors, and for statistical comparison. If the 
Treasurer has bookkeeping experience, it will be 
helpful—if not, the few simple principles suited to 
the Bible Class are easily learned. 

A simple form for class record keeping (Figure 
8) is appended, in which certain general classes 
of transactions are separated for purpose of an¬ 
alyzing the receipts and expenditures. Such a form 


Class Finances 


177 



PlSbURSEnEMTS — 3k,vv^ y mi 



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5.«A, 

ScVkI 

Llt«r*Wc- 

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SovUl 

Hiioet 

T.U 


z 

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16 

n 

13 

14 

*1 

30 

0^-ferin^ 

*»%••* VWjcCVh* 

Tick ft* -TrinKM. 

lov W^Wt - * 

Offer.., 



8 

1 

8 

<1 

« 

ir 

13 

16 

01 

80 


13 

US 

l 

ID 

oo 

OO 


50 

00 


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815 

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1 3 io 

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T Too 

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4! 


4-0 

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so 

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iooto 























FIGURE 8—ILLUSTRATING A SIMPLE SYSTEM OF CLASS 
ACCOUNTS 































































178 The Mens Class in Action 

may be as elaborate as class activities may warrant. 
The two sides of the account should be balanced 
monthly. If the total expenditures plus the money 
on hand, equals the total receipts, plus money on 
hand at the beginning of the month, then the Treas¬ 
urer knows that his accounts are correct. This 
form makes it easy to make comprehensive reports 



FIGURE 9—TREASURER'S INDIVIDUAL COLLECTION RECORD— 
PLEDGE FORM ON REVERSE SIDE 


of class expenditures. All money passing through 
the class should be entered on the books even 
though, as in the case of Sunday offerings, it is 
turned in to the Sunday School at once. 

Individual records should be kept of all dues col¬ 
lected from members and totals by weeks and 
months. Such records can usuallv be best handled 









































Class Finances 179 

on individual record cards. The card shown (Fig¬ 
ure 9) is a splendid combination pledge card and 
record of contributions. 

As previously stated, all expenditures should be 
presented to the class at the monthly business meet¬ 
ing for its approval. At each of these meetings 
a complete report of the activities of the Treasurer 
and his assistants should be made, covering all 
money received, paid, and balance on hand. 

The Treasurer should also present an annual re¬ 
port covering all financial activities during the year. 
This report should be submitted to the Sunday 
School for its annual report to the church. 

To protect the Treasurer and to catch any inac¬ 
curacies that might have crept into the records, the 
class should appoint annually an auditing committee 
to check the accounts. 


v: OPPORTUNITIES FOR SERVICE 

The live Treasurer will find ample opportunity 
for further service. Who is better fitted to serve 
as class representative on the church finance com¬ 
mittee? Since the Treasurer’s function is also to 
promote the grace of giving, he will cooperate with 
the Librarian in distributing literature on steward¬ 
ship, tithing, etc., which may be secured from the 
denominational publishing houses, Laymen’s Mis- 


180 The Mens Class in Action 

sionary Movement, Mission Boards, and from the 
national offices of the Christian Endeavor, Epworth 
League, Baptist Young People’s Union, etc. He 
may even assist the Teacher occasionally in con¬ 
ducting a special study course on “The Bible and 
Money,” or “Stewardship,” or something similar. 
He will see that the Reporter is furnished with all 
statistics of his office for publication in the class or 
church bulletin. 

Of course it is not to be expected that the Treas¬ 
urer will do all these things alone—not if he is a 
real business man. He, too, will have his corps of 
assistants, one to help collect dues, one or two to 
handle advertising, and others as needed. The 
Treasurer should be comparatively free so that he 
may plan to make his office a spiritual force second 
only to that of the Teacher and President. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Agar, “Modern Money Methods for the Church.” 


Chapter Thirteen 

DEVELOPING THE SOCIAL INSTINCTS 

1: THE ENTERTAINER AND HIS OPPORTUNITY 

C LASS social affairs are not to be considered 
as bribes offered to bring men into the class 
nor to hold them after they are in—they do both, 
but only incidentally. The chief values of class 
social life are five-fold: 

i. The development of the complete man by min¬ 
istering to his social needs; 

2. Unsuspected traits of character are revealed 
at social affairs, when men are “off their 
guard 

3. Character is built through the inhibition of 
individualistic traits—a positive effect of so¬ 
cial intercourse; 

4. Opportunity is offered Christian workers at 
informal social gatherings to reach men who 
are antagonistic to the Gospel message when 
formally taught; 

5. A thoroughly enthusiastic spirit of Christian 
fellowship is created within the class—a spirit 
that grows only as the men meet informally 
at various class gatherings and learn to know 
each other. 


181 


182 The Mens Class in Action 

For the nurturing of the social life of the class, 
the Entertainer is responsible. The class will find 
it advisable to elect to this office, a man who is a 
good mixer among men and also a good Christian. 
Natural ability to entertain, and to plan interesting 
programs is to be prized, but is not essential if ex¬ 
ecutive ability is possessed by the man selected to 
handle this phase of the work. The Entertainer 
will be sufficiently familiar with games, sports, 
music and entertainments, to at least exercise gen¬ 
eral supervision of the social program. He should 
personally assume detailed direction of only the 
activities with which he is thoroughly familiar. 
The ideal Entertainer is a commander-in-chief who 
outlines and directs the general campaign of class 
social activities. He has assistants for the several 
sports in which the class engages, others for music, 
for refreshments, for entertainment, etc.—all spe¬ 
cialists in their respective lines. 


II: SOCIAL AFFAIRS WITHIN THE CLASS 

Get-together Meetings 

The regular monthly class business meeting rep¬ 
resents one of the big opportunities of the Enter¬ 
tainer—no class should neglect the social features 
of such meetings. If the business and social fea¬ 
tures are properly correlated each will serve to 


Developing the Social Instincts 183 

stimulate interest in the meeting. About forty-five 
minutes should be devoted to business and an equal 
amount to the social program. An interesting pro¬ 
gram is the whole secret of a successful social and 
business meeting. 

Entertainment at the business meetings should 
usually be somewhat light. A short, snappy pro¬ 
gram liberally sprinkled with humorous features is 
much to be preferred to a long one of a more serious 
nature. The program of entertainment should be 
varied from month to month; it may include music 
by class members—vocal and instrumental—brief 
humorous sketches, usually written by men of the 
class, and often about the members; humorous read¬ 
ings, and debates among the members. Even de¬ 
bates should be in a light vein. The following sub¬ 
jects have been used by men’s classes with good 
success: 

Resolved: that men should be protected from suf¬ 
fragettes. 

Resolved: that this program would have been bet¬ 
ter without the debate. 

Resolved: that women are more extravagant 
than men. 

An extemporaneous debate offers an occasional 
happy variation of the program. If serious topics 
are chosen for debate a time limit of five or six 
minutes for each speaker should be set. The 


184 The Mens Class in Action 

writer recalls the harrowing experience of listening 
to one debater speak thirty-five minutes on the sub¬ 
ject of capital punishment. An attempt to make 
the monthly Get-together meeting too educational 
will defeat its ultimate purpose. 

Men always enjoy light refreshments at class 
meetings. Some classes even serve suppers before 
the business session, in many cases prepared by the 
men themselves. Usually a charge of twenty-five 
cents a man covers the cost of such suppers, which 
should of course be paid by the men present. No 
class treasury can stand the strain of monthly sup¬ 
pers for the members. 

The following schedule of refreshments show 
how one men's class helped make its business meet¬ 
ings interesting: 

January—Charlotte russe and cocoa. 

February—Chile con carne, crackers; coffee and 
assorted cakes. 

March—Grape juice, soda and cakes. 

April—Strawberry short cake. 

May—Real man’s cake without sticky icings , and 
coffee. 

June—Minced ham and pickle sandwiches, coffee. 

J uly—W atermelon. 

August—Cold ham, potato salad and coffee. 
September—Pimento cheese sandwiches, coffee. 
October—Sweet cider and doughnuts. 

November—Pumpkin pie, apples and coffee. 
December—Annual banquet. 


Developing the Social Instincts 185 

The actual needs of the class should always be 
considered in planning business and social meetings. 
Some classes may not need such a meeting every 
month—the members may be too busy to give the 
time to attend so frequently. If that is the case, 
meetings should be held less often and effort made 
to increase attendance at the meetings that are held. 
One good meeting a year is much better than one 
uninteresting poorly attended meeting held each 
month. Bi-monthly meetings are often a happy 
compromise. One class of busy married men holds 
such meetings at the homes of the members and in¬ 
vites the wives. A certain large class of men has 
only two meetings a year, one in the winter for the 
transaction of important business and the laying of 
plans which are to be carried out by the officers; 
another in summer, which takes the form of a picnic 
or entertainment—this latter being purely a social 
meeting. Still another class of busy men have an 
annual fishing trip, which is the extent of their 
week-day meetings. Many classes in the larger 
cities have periodical noonday luncheons for the 
transaction of class business. 

Class Music 

Nothing contributes more to the success of social 
affairs of the class or the school and church of 
which it is a part than good music. It is possible 


186 The Mens Class in Action 

in almost every class to organize an acceptable vocal 
quartette, or even a strong glee club. Instrumental 
organizations are possible even though there are 
only a limited number of players; a violin, ’cello 
and piano; two violins, a ’cello and bass; two clar¬ 
inets, a flute and oboe; cornet, trombone and piano; 
two cornets, trombone, euphonium and tuba; these 
are all pleasing combinations which even the smaller 
classes can organize. Many larger classes have 
their own orchestras of from seven to thirty-four 
pieces. Some classes form the nucleus of Sunday 
School orchestras, while others are instrumental in 
organizing larger community bands. Neither large 
numbers, nor high quality music is needed to start 
—the main thing is to use the available talent— 
quality will follow. 

Class musical organizations need not confine their 
efforts solely to sacred music—a certain amount of 
more popular music adds interest. Discretion 
should be used, however, for much of the sensa¬ 
tional, popular music of the day is entirely unfit for 
the use of religious groups. Music should stimulate 
high ideals at all times. 

The Annual Banquet 

The annual banquet may be made a big event in 
the class life. As with all other affairs, ample 
preparation should be made to assure a success. A 


Developing the Social Instincts 187 

number of classes hold their annual elections at the 
class banquet. If that be the case, there will be 
need of but little other program, for the campaign 
speeches usually furnish all the entertainment that 
is necessary. In the event that no election is held, 
a more elaborate program may be worked out, in¬ 
cluding toasts and responses, special music and a 
special speaker of note who will bring a worthwhile 
message. A joint banquet of the men’s class and 
the women’s class of corresponding grade, has 
proven successful in some Sunday Schools. 

Class Picnic 

The class picnic is usually a mixed picnic, each 
man bringing his wife or, if unmarried, some 
woman friend. It may also be a joint picnic between 
the men’s and women’s classes. The Entertainer 
must plan a bright, novel program, not too much 
like the annual Sunday School picnic. Let it be a 
day of real play. Provide horseshoes, croquet 
games, a number of soft indoor baseballs, and but 
little urging will be needed to induce every one to 
play informally. If the class will seek a picnic 
ground away from the beaten path, going in a special 
car or automobiles, interest will be heightened. One 
class holds such a picnic annually on July Fourth; 
any other holiday will be suitable. If the picnic 
is properly planned, class members will look for- 


188 The Mens Class in Action 

ward impatiently to the next annual return of the 
date. 

The Young Men's Reception 

In some classes there is given annually a recep¬ 
tion to all the young men of the community. In 
college communities it may be a reception to all the 
new students coming to the high school or college. 
In such an event the Entertainer’s duty is to furnish 
the program and refreshments, while the Visitor 
and Vice-President have charge of the attendance. 
A program of music and entertainment, a welcome 
by the class officers and an inspirational address 
showing the value of class affiliation is appropriate 
for such an event. Refreshments need not be 
elaborate—sandwiches, coffee and pie always please 
men. 

Clubs 

The Entertainer will determine the likes and hob¬ 
bies of each member so that he may provide activi¬ 
ties for every one in the class. Should some of 
the members desire to play chess or checkers, a club 
should be organized for the purpose of giving those 
men a chance to indulge in that pastime. A camera 
club might interest a number of the members and 
would certainly be an attraction for the class. 
Other clubs should be organized for debating, liter- 


Developing the Social Instincts 189 

ary study, or science, if there is a demand for them. 
A card record like Figure io will enable the En¬ 
tertainer to secure such information. 


iftCaplewood 
vSx Jlgoga 


Bible 

Class. 



NAME 


Kindly check things in which you are especially interested. 


—Baseball 
— Basket Ball 
—Bowlins 
—Quoits 
—Tennis 

—VOCAL QUARTETTE 
—Glee Clus 
—Orchestra 
—Band 

—Chamber Music 


—manoolin Club 
—Chess a Checkers 
—Literature 
—Art 

—literary Entertainment 
—Musical 
— Humorous 
—Class Socials 
—Debating 
—Public Speaking 


—Teacher Training 
—Bible Study 
—Missions 
—Eugenics 
—Social Service 
—Temperance 
—Boys' Work 
—Visitation 



Any other suggestions will be received gladly. JXCark same on reverse side 
of this card. 


FIGURE IO—SUGGESTION CARD FOR ENTERTAINER 


III: MIXED ENTERTAINMENTS 

Many splendid social affairs may be given in con¬ 
nection with the women’s classes of corresponding 
grade. Care must be taken, however, to see that 
the participating groups are really congenial. The 
writer has seen attempts at such cooperation result 
in a banner attendance of the women and a mere 
scattered representation of the men. This is usu¬ 
ally because the men have chosen their women 
friends from some circle other than the class in 
question. If such a condition exists, the Enter- 






190 The Mens Class in Action 

tainer should know about it and arrange only socials 
to which the men are invited to bring their friends 
and the women theirs. 

A young men’s class and a young women’s class 
of the same approximate ages and forming a 
natural social group, gave a number of Saturday 
afternoon and some evening picnics in the city 
parks, which proved very enjoyable to all attending. 
Hayrides are always well received; so are boat 
excursions. Hikes with wiener and marshmallow 
roasts at the end are always popular. Many men’s 
and women’s classes always put forth efforts to have 
a large delegation at the denominational summer as¬ 
semblies. The groups camp together and join with 
each other in the assembly activities. 

During the winter season there can be mixed 
parties galore—Thanksgiving parties, Hallowe’en 
parties, Christmas parties, for those home from 
school on vacation, New Year’s Watch parties, 
George Washington parties, St. Patrick parties, 
Valentine parties, Easter parties, and many 
others. 

Then there may be parties in between the fixed 
festival days. A peanut party in which all games, 
refreshments and decorations were based on the 
peanut has proven successful. There may be a 
farmers’ party in which all come dressed in rural 


Developing the Social Instincts 191 

costume, and partake of doughnuts and cider; tacky 
parties to which all guests come dressed in some 
ridiculous costume are always amusing. 

The writer recalls a most successful party given 
by two classes to entertain members returning from 
college for the spring vacation. Because the en¬ 
tire program consisted of stunts, and frivolous 
events, the Entertainers announced a “Spring 
Frivolities Party.” Cracker and pie-eating contests 
were held. A group of young men gave a “moving 
picture” show by the simple expedient of acting be¬ 
fore a strong light but behind a sheet placed between 
them and the audience. The “actors” created much 
merriment by burlesquing a scene in the office of 
one of the class members, a local dentist. Carpenter 
tools were used as dental instruments. It is re¬ 
markable how much real enjoyment may be had 
from an evening of just such ridiculous events. 


IV: OPEN ENTERTAINMENTS 

The class might well plan to have several open 
entertainments to which the public is invited, each 
year. These may be given entirely by the class or 
in connection with other classes or organizations. 
Such functions not only serve to furnish clean, high- 
class entertainment for the church members and 


192 The Mens Class in Action 

their friends, but to advertise the class to the com¬ 
munity. 

One such entertainment might take the form of 
a musical evening, in which the vocal and instru¬ 
mental talent of the class may be utilized. It is 
often possible to secure excellent outside talent at 
reasonable cost; such visitors enrich any program. 
If a sufficient interest is shown, several musical lec¬ 
tures could be given, illustrated with piano and 
phonograph. There should be occasional literary 
programs, consisting of readings, sketches, debates, 
negro sermons, short lectures and possibly a little 
music for variety. Some classes have successfully 
presented a series of popular lectures on literature, 
science, industry, arts, social problems, missions, 
etc. One of the largest men’s classes in St. Louis 
for a number of years has presented a lyceum course 
of high caliber. If a stereopticon or moving pic¬ 
ture machine is part of the class equipment it will 
be found a valuable asset. High class films are 
now being produced for use of religious organiza¬ 
tions. 

Classes frequently present programs in order to 
secure funds for some worthy object. Such an aim 
should not obscure the greater social value of open 
entertainments to both the class and the community. 
Some classes ask for a silver offering merely to 
cover the expenses. 


Developing the Social Instincts 193 

Dramatics—either short sketches or longer plays 
—musical shows, minstrels and “Old Deestrick 
Skule” entertainments are always enjoyable to both 
participants and audience. They take time and ef¬ 
fort to prepare, but are worth it from the social 
standpoint. Some classes are even taking their own 
moving pictures, using the class members as prin¬ 
cipals, and acting a number of Biblical stories. 
This form of dramatics is splendid for adults as 
well as for children, giving the actor an insight into 
the character he is portraying as no amount of 
listening to a teacher could possibly do. 

The present writer does not approve of holding 
the lighter social dramatics in the church audito¬ 
rium. The church ought always to be associated 
with worship—let us not make it easy to associate 
it with less serious things. If the church has no 
social building, it is usually possible to rent a hall 
for dramatic performances. 

In the field of dramatics the Entertainer or the 
assistant in charge will find that leadership is a 
necessity. Amateur actors are just as tempera¬ 
mental as the real ones are reputed to be. He will 
need tact and patience in abundance to bring the 
production to a successful conclusion. 

The circus or country fair is one of the best en¬ 
tertainments for the purpose of making money. A 
suburban class of men has given several of these 


194 The Men's Class in Action 

fairs and has always realized handsomely from 
them. Such events are always conducted in con¬ 
junction with other organizations. There are the 
usual booths—blankets, rugs, etc., by the Ladies’ 
Aid, ice cream by the young ladies, candies in the 
girls’ booth—possibly a fish pond and a fortune 
teller—and a missionary booth. The young men 
have charge of the general arrangements and also 
conduct a minstrel or other show—this being pur¬ 
posely short to permit several performances during 
the evening. On one occasion the class staged a 
“bull fight,” in which horses were dummies made 
of papier-mache, strapped over the shoulders of the 
riders who walked inside. The bull consisted of 
two young men, one holding on the other’s shoul¬ 
ders—a cloth and papier-mache bull was placed over 
the men. By sprinkling sawdust and red paint 
around the ring, a realistic atmosphere was created. 
Usually the bull was shot with a cannon. On one 
occasion half of the bull forgot his cue and fell dead 
before the other half—all of which added to the 
general merriment. 

To make such affairs successful, a strong com¬ 
mittee on management is needed, and one on adver¬ 
tising. All posters and dodgers should be gotten 
out in true circus style—long words and free allit^ 
eration. Then advertise and advertise. 


Developing the Social Instincts 195 

v: ATHLETICS 

Bowling, baseball, basketball, tennis and indoor 
baseball may all be on the class athletic program. 
The class tennis court offers probably the most pop¬ 
ular form of athletics, and one that is not prohib¬ 
itive in maintenance cost. Class members can 
easily find a vacant lot and build their own court. 
For those who do not indulge in strenuous sports, 
there may be organized walking clubs to take long 
hikes on pleasant Sunday or Saturday afternoons. 
Quoit clubs have also been successful. 

As the class builds its athletic program, there 
arises the danger of turning the class into an ath¬ 
letic club. Those in charge should always remem¬ 
ber that athletics are a means to an end—not the 
end in itself. The author has seen a tennis club 
draw class members from all over the community 
—all regular at the courts, but rarely ever at class. 
So with baseball; there is always the temptation to 
bring in the good player from the community to 
build a good team—if he is held and becomes a 
worker, all is well; very often he attends just 
enough to be eligible for play, and after the season, 
is seen no more. One particular player attended 
three different classes in as many years; he went 
where the ball team was. The class should always 


196 The Mens Class in Action 

keep its aim of teaching the Word to win souls for 
Christ always in the foreground. On the other 
hand athletics may establish the first contact point 
between the class and a prospect. Some of the very 
best men workers of the writer’s acquaintance, have 
been brought into Christian service by means of 
some athletic feature. When a man does attend 
class and does play ball, the class should not neglect 
that opportunity to make a definite and permanent 
impression on him, regarding his Christian duty. 

VI: THE CLASS ROOM 

It will probably be well for the class to include 
the care of the class room among the duties of the 
Entertainer. This would consist of the decoration 
of the room, the selection and placing of pictures 
on the walls, carpets on the floors, curtains on 
the windows, and flowers on the table at class meet¬ 
ings. Every effort should be made to make the 
class room comfortable, inviting and homelike. It 
is easier to hold men in an inviting room than in 
one that is bare and uncomfortable. In this con¬ 
nection do not forget ventilation. Many a good 
lesson has been utterly ruined by a vitiated atmos¬ 
phere. 

The class can easily secure pictures to decorate 
the room—prints of famous masterpieces are ob- 


Developing the Social Instincts 197 

tainable at reasonable prices—photographs taken by 
members are frequently valuable additions to the 
walls—the picture of the class itself should of course 
be hung. It is desirable to have an annual class 
picture taken—the members will like it and it will 
be useful in advertising. 

VII: CONCLUDING HINTS 

In carrying out the work of Entertainer, the 
officer should be guided by three suggestions, which 
if carried out will bring success to crown his efforts. 

1. Make every member feel that the success of 
the class work depends on him —try to get the co¬ 
operation of all. 

2. Have enough assistants. It is easy to be¬ 
come discouraged if one tries to do all the work. 
In a class of forty members the Entertainer should 
at least have assistants in charge of dramatics, re¬ 
freshments, Get-together entertainment, class room, 
music, and one for each club under the auspices of 
the class and for each athletic sport conducted. 

3. Keep a record of work done—let it be com¬ 
plete—such a record will be invaluable for future 
entertainers. 

The Entertainer will, of course, do much work 
himself—he may take charge of certain depart¬ 
ments of the work himself—but he should aim to 


198 The Mens Class in Action 


be rather a guiding spirit of the social activities of 
the class. There is a universal need to-day for 
such a class executive who will plan new and help¬ 
ful ways of turning the social instinct into the chan¬ 
nels where it may be developed and exercised to 
the glory of God. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Reisner, “Social Plans for Young People.” 

Chesley, “Social Activities for Men and Boys.” 
Barclay, “The Adult Worker and His Work,” Chapter 
XVII. 

Wells, “The Ideal Adult Class,” Chapter VIII. 


Chapter Fourteen 


WHAT THE LIBRARIAN DOES 


I: THE MAN FOR THE OFFICE 


NFORTUNATELY the office of Librarian 



is too often also considered a sinecure—an 


honorary office into which we can place old “war- 
horses” who have outlived their usefulness and 
whom the class desires to honor, or youngsters to 
whom no other office can be entrusted. Frequently 
all concerned consider the office as a sort of a joke. 
As a matter of fact, the office is one of almost un¬ 
limited opportunity. The purpose of this chapter 
is to show some of the ways in which the man 
elected to this office may use it for the general wel¬ 
fare of the class. Almost all the plans mentioned 
have actually been worked in the writer’s class of 


men. 


The Librarian has charge of all literary activi¬ 
ties of the class. If possible a man who reads 
quite a bit—a booklover—should be chosen for the 
office. The Librarian should be familiar with lit¬ 
erature in general and with Sunday School literature 
in particular. Tf he has the ability to talk inter- 


199 


200 The Mens Class in Action 

estingly about books his value to the class will be 
increased. 


II: THE LIBRARY 

If the class has a library, this at once becomes 
the center of the Librarian’s activities. In most 
communities the Public Library has made the Sun¬ 
day School or class library of fiction unnecessary. 
In the event that the class conducts a reading or 
social room a library adds to its attractiveness if 
it is kept up to date. It will probably be more ad¬ 
visable for the class to arrange to receive regular 
deposits of new books from the Public Library for 
reading-room purposes. 

In some of the smaller communities there is still 
found the need for a general library. If the need 
exists, why should not the class fill it? Members 
of the class, church and community may be asked to 
donate books which they may have—many libraries 
have been started in this way. It should be under¬ 
stood that all donations are subject to approval— 
no library should become the dumping ground of 
literary refuse. 

Every class should have a working library of 
religious books and books of methods to enable it 
to carry on its work better. Such a library should 
contain books on adult work, social work, Bible 
study, Mission study and reference books for use 


What the Librarian Does 201 

in connection with study courses, such as Bible die- 
tionaries, concordances, commentaries, church 
histories, social service, etc. The reference lists 
given at the end of each chapter are suggestive of 
material that should find a place in the class library. 

The class Workers’ Library may be more useful 
if conducted in conjunction with the Sunday School 
Workers’ Library. If there is no Workers’ Library 
in the school the Librarian should not let pass the 
opportunity of pushing such a proposition. Books 
should be selected with the aid of the Teacher, Pas¬ 
tor and Superintendent that will be suitable for 
workers in every department of Church and Sunday 
School work. The Librarian will need catalogs of 
leading publishers of religious literature, a number 
of whom are listed in the appendix. From these 
he will be able to find many suggestions for the class 
or school library. 

In the author’s own class, the Librarian secured 
the cooperation of all the associated societies and 
the older classes, for the purpose of building 
a School Workers’ Library. Each organization 
pledged one book a month toward the library, same 
to be selected by the Librarian. At the end of a 
year the school possessed a library of over sixty 
well-chosen and helpful books on all phases of Sun¬ 
day School, Organized Class, and Young People’s 
Work. 


202 The Mens Class in Action 

The finest library in the world is of little value 
if the books remain unread. The Librarian must 
then make every effort to see that the books are 
actually used. Workers’ books can usually be ef¬ 
fectively distributed at the School Workers’ Con¬ 
ference. Books in connection with special courses 
of study may be distributed at the class sessions. 

A careful record should be kept of all books taken 
out of the library. People have a tendency to for¬ 
get that they have the book, unless they are occa¬ 
sionally reminded of it. No elaborate records are 
needed. A number of very good records are avail¬ 
able from the publishing houses; or the Librarian 
may simply use a note book alloting one page to a 
book, and recording under that book, the date and 
name of person taking it, checking it off when 
returned. 


Hi: AT THE SUNDAY SESSIONS 

The Librarian is the custodian of the class Bibles 
and song books. He will see that they are dis¬ 
tributed before the session so that every one present 
may be provided, and more important still, he will 
see that they are properly collected after the class 
session, and stored in a cabinet provided for the 
purpose. In a large class he will very likely have 
one or more assistants to do this part of the work. 


What the Librarian Does 203 

Supplementary literature for use with the Sun- 
day lessons offers the Librarian further opportunity 
for service. Many teachers furnish typewritten 
outlines of the lesson to the class. These will be 
distributed by the Librarian. In the case of social 
service and mission courses, a large amount of leaf¬ 
let material on the subject is available—much is 
free, while some carries a slight charge. This ma¬ 
terial may be obtained from the publishing boards 
and from the mission boards. The Librarian 
should write the several boards for lists of all mate¬ 
rial that may be available. He will find that inter¬ 
est in class work is stimulated by the judicious 
distribution of these tracts. Often the printed tract 
makes an impression, even though the message of 
the teacher may have failed. 

The Librarian should also encourage the use of 
current text books in connection with study courses. 
He should determine what members want the books 
and secure them for those members. He will of 
course work very closely with the teacher in such 
matters—and may be of considerable assistance in 
stimulating wider class study. 


IV: THE CLASS BULLETIN 

If the class publishes a class paper, or if the 
class uses certain space in the church bulletin each 


204 The Mens Class in Action 

week, the Librarian should be careful to preserve 
a complete file. A class bulletin serves as a run¬ 
ning history of the class, and grows more valuable 
with the passing years—not only from a sentimental 
point of view, but as a guide for future workers. 
The files of the class organ should be bound into 
volumes containing the copies for one year, and 
placed in the class library. 

The foresighted Librarian will preserve more 
than one copy of each bulletin. At the end of the 
year he will find that there is a demand for com¬ 
plete sets on the part of the officers and other inter¬ 
ested workers. 

The time to assure having a complete file of the 
class paper is at the time publication is started. A 
certain class neglected to preserve its files and sev¬ 
eral years later strenuous efforts on the part of the 
Librarian were necessary to try to build a com¬ 
plete file. A number of private files were brought 
to light, but it was impossible to secure all the miss¬ 
ing issues. 

If found desirable, the Librarian may also have 
charge of the bulletin mailing list. He will then 
mail copies each week to absentees, to recent visit¬ 
ors whose addresses are known, to members out of 
the city on business or on vacations, and to those 
who have permanently removed to another com¬ 
munity, but who still are interested in the class 


What the Librarian Does 205 

work. Some classes mail a bulletin to all visitors 
at their home addresses for two or three weeks after 
their attendance. All this helps to advertise the 
class and to build good will. 

v: MISCELLANEOUS PLANS 

Book Talks 

A monthly book talk of five or six minutes dura¬ 
tion can be made very enjoyable. Reviews of late 
books, of interest to class members, could be given 
during the period allotted for the talk. If the books 
are of a religious or inspirational nature, this talk 
might well be given during a Sunday session; if 
only of general literary interest, the monthly Get- 
together meeting will probably be the better place 
to have it. 

The book talk may often be a quiz on some book 
which the class is studying, or may be a summary 
of some literary news of general interest—the death 
of noted writers, composers, or something similar. 

Current Topic Talks 

One class for a number of months had a series 
of five-minute current topic talks given by various 
members. Each speaker selected some news event 
of the week, from which he drew a moral or ethical 
lesson, trying as far as possible to tie up the talk 


206 The Mens Class in Action 

with the class lessons. Such talks may logically be 
conducted under the direction of the Librarian. 

Literary Counselor 

The Librarian will be virtually a literary guide 
to the class membership. He may suggest suitable 
reading courses on subjects which the class is study¬ 
ing or along lines of the individual interests of the 
members. A splendid series of reading course out¬ 
lines on several subjects may be secured free from 
the U. S. Bureau of Education. He will encourage 
the building of a home library. A splendid way to 
do this is by urging the members to purchase the 
text books being used by the class. After several 
years’ attendance at class a member will have a 
credible nucleus for a worthwhile library. The 
Librarian may also recommend late books and 
articles in current magazines. 

The Bible and Bible Reading 

During the late war almost every class furnished 
the boys in service with Testaments and Bibles. 
There is still room for effort in this direction. In¬ 
vestigation will reveal many homes in which there 
is no Bible. The Librarian can be of invaluable 
service in helping members select the Bible best 
suited for use. This should by all means be the 
American Standard Revision. He may also rec- 


What the Librarian Does 207 

ommend suitable Bible Dictionaries, Commentaries 
and Concordances which will enable the student to 
use his Bible properly. 

The Librarian can do no better than to cooperate 
with the Teacher in stimulating the daily reading 
of the Bible. He can furnish pledge and record 
cards, for daily Bible readers. He should also 
conduct frequent quizzes on the daily Bible reading 
course outlined by the Teacher. 

Cooperating With Entertainer 

The wide-awake Librarian has abundant oppor¬ 
tunity to assist the Entertainer in planning literary 
entertainments. He may help arrange for debates, 
readings and sketches. If alive to the possibilities 
of his position he will have a record of the literary 
leanings of all members, thus making it easy to 
select men for this special work. 

Advertising His Department 

The Librarian will use the class bulletin to good 
advantage. One officer published all his plans 
under the heading, “Librarials,” thus keeping up 
interest in his department. In this section he also 
published occasional quotations of famous authors 
about books. 

Conditions in local classes may make it impos¬ 
sible to use all the plans here suggested. Some 


208 The Mens Class in Action 


classes may be able to use the Librarian in some 
ways not included in this chapter. No class should 
ever permit any office to exist without reason for its 
being. It is easily seen that the office of Librarian 
is important in the scheme of class organization— 
the work is there to be done. It is up to the class 
to elect a man to the office who will do it. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Morse, “The Workers’ Library,” Sunday School 
Worker, October, 1920. 


Chapter Fifteen 
ADVERTISING THE CLASS 

i: WHAT IS ADVERTISING? 

T HE process of selling by means of publicity, 
we call advertising. Derived from the 
Latin, adverto, it literally means “to turn toward.” 
Hence in its broadest sense advertising includes 
any effort made to attract attention toward that in 
which the advertiser is interested. Advertising may 
be and often is simply the spoken word. The class 
member who personally visits prospects and inter¬ 
ests them in the class is advertising—the medium 
is of limited circulation, but it is advertising, just 
the same. The message set in type and placed in 
a newspaper, although multiplied many times in ef¬ 
fect, yet lacks the living personality of face-to-face 
communication. Consequently both personal sell¬ 
ing and the printed word are valuable in success¬ 
fully advertising any commodity or service. 

Classes of Advertising 

All advertising divides itself naturally into two 
classes—publicity advertising and informative ad- 
209 


210 The Mens Class in Action 

vertising. Publicity itself is of two forms: first 
the advertising which comes to an institution 
through disseminating news regarding it through 
the regular news channels, such as newspapers and 
the denominational press—in other words, “press 
agent” matter; second, regular display advertising in 
which simply the name of the article being adver¬ 
tised and possibly also a slogan or catch phrase, is 
made prominent with no effort to show why that 
particular article should be selected by the reader. 
In informative advertising, greater effort is made to 
convince the reader by means of logical reasons 
that the advertised article is superior to others of 
the same class. There is place for each of these 
classes of advertising in the work of the men’s class. 

II: SHOULD THE MEN’S CLASS ADVERTISE? 

Yes, emphatically yes, the class should advertise. 
The Men’s Bible Class has the best advertising 
proposition in the world to-day—Christianity. It 
is the one thing that all men need; it is the one 
thing that has within itself an appeal suited to every 
heart and mind. 

We have the example of Christ himself to guide 
us. True, He used no newspapers or poster 
boards. He did, however, send His disciples out to 
tell the good news to all creation. He, too, at- 


Advertising the Class 211 

traded attention to Himself by His startling teach¬ 
ings and the mighty miracles which He performed. 
Jesus advertised. The Bible to-day is the most ef¬ 
fective piece of advertising literature the world has 
ever known—it has produced results that bring 
gasps of astonishment from the unbelievers. 

The Men’s Bible Class must scatter information 
about itself if it is to grow. The class aims and 
principles for which it stands must be “sold” to the 
men it desires to interest. It must give them facts 
about the class activities; it must show why the men 
of the community should be a part of the organiza¬ 
tion. In our complicated social order it is impos¬ 
sible for individuals to carry class messages with 
the frequency required to make a permanent im¬ 
pression. Some form of the printed word must be 
relied upon to keep the class fresh in the minds of 
prospective members. 

Through advertising the class name and motto 
becomes familiar to the entire neighborhood which 
it serves. Its influence is felt in all walks of the 
community life—even the least interested must rec¬ 
ognize that the class stands for the higher, more 
permanent things of life. 

Advertising, properly used, always brings big re¬ 
sults. It is the big force in business to-day. The 
church is just beginning to realize the power in ad¬ 
vertising. It played no small part in bringing sue- 


212 The Mens Class in Action 

cess in the recent financial campaigns conducted by 
the great religious bodies. It is time that the local 
churches and classes should also recognize more 
fully the possibilities of advertising when properly 
adapted to their organizations. 


Ill: BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ADVERTISING 

The first essential to successful advertising is a 
careful study of the product to be advertised. 
Those in charge of the class publicity must first 
study the class, its membership, and its aims. They 
must ascertain the conditions under which the class 
is working, in order to determine the proper appli¬ 
cation of advertising methods. Next there must 
be an investigation of the possible prospects—who 
are they, where are they, what are their occupations 
and their attitudes toward the church. After all 
these conditions are known, comes a determination 
of the ways and means of reaching the prospects 
by advertising. 

Advertising must attract favorable attention and 
awaken interest. A class might hire a circus clown 
to perform on a busy comer and so attract atten¬ 
tion for the presentation of a message, but it is 
questionable whether such attention would create 
much respect for the class. The appeal must be in 
keeping with the dignity of the class. It must be 


Advertising the Class 213 

a legitimate appeal awakening a genuine interest in 
the class work, or it fails in its purpose. 

Class advertising must create a desire for the 
things the class has to offer. To that end all ad¬ 
vertising should be as interesting as it is possible 
to make it—the writer must make the reader actu¬ 
ally feel the power of the class. The class publicity 
man must consequently be one of the most interested 
men in the class. 

If the class advertising does not carry conviction 
no lasting impressions can be made. All advertis¬ 
ing should fairly bristle with live facts about the 
organization—things it has done, rather than things 
it plans to do. 

The advertising of a Bible class should above 
everything inspire confidence. No exaggerations 
nor misstatements should be permitted under any 
conditions. Insincere, high-sounding phrases never 
fool any one. 

The final purpose of advertising is to influence to 
action. The prospect should be invited to attend 
class, send in a reservation for a plate at a banquet, 
be challenged to enter into a class discussion or in 
some other way induced to do something. No mat¬ 
ter how little a prospect does in reply to advertising, 
it will be easier to make him do more the next time. 

It is preferable that all advertising be brief— 
most men are busy and are more willing to read 


214 The Mens Class in Action 

something that is short and snappy, than a long 
treatise. “Build each advertisement about one def¬ 
inite point,” is a good rule to follow. 

Experiments have shown that experiences are 
quickly forgotten. Therefore in order to secure 
full value from advertising there must be frequent 
repetition. Not only that, but one forgets as much 
in the first ten units of time following an experi¬ 
ence, as he will during the next twenty-five. The 
class must then use advertising more frequently at 
the beginning of a special campaign than later on. 

The class must use all the advertising media that 
will serve its purpose. This may include news¬ 
papers, the denominational press, class papers, post¬ 
ers, movie slides, letters, printed cards, circulars, 
booklets, and street car cards. Not only should the 
class accept the courtesy of the news columns of the 
newspapers, as outlined later, but it should also use 
paid advertising space as liberally as possible. 


IV: THE REPORTER 

Class publicity is in charge of the Reporter. A 
prime requisite for election to this office should be 
the ability to write correctly, convincingly and en¬ 
tertainingly. Often the Reporter must write all 
publicity matter, and it is usually necessary for him 
to rewrite all contributed material to suit his needs. 


Advertising the Class 215 


^be Character 3Butlber 

Issued every Thursday by the CHARACTER BUILDER BIBLE CLAS9, 
Madison Heights M. E* Church Claybrook and Monroe* 

Vol V. Memphis, Tenn.. December 2, 1920_No 8 


Character Builders Respond to Call 

For Funds—$5,000 Is Still Needed 

Many Say “Count On Me” at Sunday Service and Remit for Balance of 
Pledge In Order to Save Interest of $62.50 Per Month. 

Character Builders, as usual, are responding most generously to the call for 
payment in full or part of the building fund pledges. 

But more help is needed. Only about $2,500 of the $7,500 needed has been 
paid in. We must have $5,000 more by next Monday in order to save the class 
$52.50 per month interest charge. 

MANY COME TO RESCUE 

When Or Bigger on last Sunday told of the need of the funds and asked 
Character Builders present to say “Counton me” for their pledge in full or part, 
there was an immediate response. Taylor Malone, Norman Monaghan, Clarence 
Banning. E. C. Bondurant. S. S. Sherrod, Kenneth McRae, E. R Avery, Dr. 
Bigger and many others turned in their pames to Sam Jackson and checks were 
written out this week for the various amounts which total over $2,500. 

IF YOU /CAN’T PAY ALL PAY PART 
Remember that it doesn’t take the payment of your full pledge fo put this 
thlug over but that payment of just one installment, or two, will help and help a 

lot. If your subscription is only $10 you have done your part just as well as the 

fellow who has subscribed a $1,000, so don’t wait but send in your check today for 
whatever part of your pledge you can pay. no matter how small or how large. 

A LETTER FROM A C. B 

“I am one of the fellows who joined the Character Builder class after the 
building was oractlcally completed,” writes Clyde Bland, Room 714, Grand Cen¬ 
tral Station. “I don’t feel like 1 could #ay it was OURS unless I contribute! 
something toward paying the bill. 

“Enclosed find my check for $25, with best wishes for the class. 

That’s the spirit. Get in on this new building, all you new C. B's. No 
matter how small or how large. It will be appreciated and will make you feel that 
part of that building belongs to you. 

ACT NOW. 

Don’t wait, Character Builder, but mail your check today. It’s a business 
proposition. _— 

Pay Up Now.Make a Character Builder Xmas Gift 


FIGURE II—FRONT PAGE OF A CLASS BULLETIN. 













216 The Mens Class in Action 

He should have what the newspaper folks call “a 
nose for news”—that is, he must be able to recog¬ 
nize which particular class happenings are of interest 
only to class members, which carry community in¬ 
terest, which have possibilities of wider denomina¬ 
tional interest, and which are valueless. The present 
writer has seen all varieties of reporters—those who 
failed to see news in such items as a class President 
or Teacher being placed upon a Convention Pro¬ 
gram, those who saw no value in using newspapers 
to chronicle the events of the class, and those who 
could “dig up” more news from a small class than 
the class paper could accommodate. The latter type 
of Reporter is a rare specimen. If the man elected 
to the office is really willing, he may by a little 
thinking and some reading make a very acceptable 
publicity man. It is necessary, however, that the 
Reporter be absolutely wide-awake at all times, 
ready to utilize every opportunity to bring the class 
and its work into public attention. 

v: THE CLASS PAPER 


Its Place 

As a means of stimulating class spirit and inter¬ 
est, it is hard to “beat” the class paper. Here will 
be published not only the important announcements, 
but also those little interesting happenings among 


Advertising the Class 


AQOQA BULLETIN 


Vll.lVIll. ST. LOUIS, MO.. MAr 7, 1922 U. 19 

Young Men's Agoga Bible Class 

-of the- 

THIRD BAPTIST CHURCH 



CLASS OFFICERS 


I. C. VARNEY_ 

3820 Washington Av. 


Lind all 600 


Taaohat 


L. M. KINCAID... . . 

4132 West Pias CoUu 810 

O. W. MATTISON___ 

3963A McPherson Art. 


.. President 

UodeU 1307-W 


-Vice-President 

Lin dell 4906-J. 


L E. CHRISCO_ _ - 

5450 Clemons 

C- A. CROMWELL-___ 

4070 Lafayette Main 466 


- Secretary 

11037-W. 


...Treasurer 

Grand 4129-M. 


B. L TEACHENOR 
5966 Minerva 

BEN HEriGET_ 

919 Skioker Rd. 


~-r- ..——- Vi*It. r 

Main 3950, Station 22 Cab. 2981-H 

— Enter tainer 
Cabanna S904. 


R. L. SANDERS.__ 

4012A Lalayella Main 4700 

C E. SPARKS__ 

4398 Oliva St. Main 4350 


- Librarian 
Grand S169-J. 

-Reporter 

Lindall 1364-J 


CLASS MOTTO 

Get Another Man 


AG OCA It a Creek ward signifying bringing, 
lending, naming, conduct It it found in the Greek 
in 2 'nut. 3:10. It I or mi the last pan of the word 
Synagogue Agoga stands lot the highest type of 
Christian Msnhood. the life trained, duciptincd 
^tempered, developed. 




FIGURE 12—FRONT COVER OF AN EIGHT-PAGE 
CLASS PAPER. 
























220 The Mens Class in Action 

tunately, a class will sometimes have a Reporter who 
takes his office so lightly as to waste class funds in 
just that manner—the sooner the class asks for his 
resignation the better for the class. The paper rep¬ 
resents the organization—its editorial policy should 
be such as accurately reflects the purpose of the 
class. 

The Reporter should aim to make the class paper 
informative. News items about the class and its 
members, both serious and humorous, will be given 
a large place in its columns. If a member does 
something at a class meeting that is really funny, 
put it in the paper so that all can laugh—but be 
careful that no feelings are hurt. The Reporter 
will find tact valuable at all times. Such facts as 
marriages, deaths in the family, sickness of a mem¬ 
ber or his family, removals of residence, business 
trips, special business accomplishments and promo¬ 
tions, members opening new business, election of 
members to church and school offices, should all be 
mentioned in the paper—and before the news be¬ 
comes stale. 

The regular course of study will be featured. 
There should be in every issue a brief outline of 
the lesson for the following Sunday, including also 
the daily Bible readings for the week. The Teacher 
will find the paper a great help in developing thought 
on the lesson by suggestive questions and in stimu- 


Advertising the Class 


_ AGOGa bull etin 

Second Quarter, 1922 

Prophets and Kings in Jndah 

SOUTHERN KINGDOM 


Today’s Lesson: 

Condition of Permanent Peace 

Isa. 2:2-4; ll;l-9. 

Lesson For May 14th, 1922 

Wise Methods of Reform. 

2 Chron. 30:1-27. 


A BIBLE MESSAGE DAILY. 

M 2 Chron. 29:1-11. A Godly King’s Edict. 
T 2 Chfon. 29:12-19. The Temple Cleansed. 
W 2 Chron. 29:20-30. Sacrifices Presented. 

T—2 Chron. 29:31-36. Sacrifices Offered. 

F—2 Chron. 30 :1-12. Call to Worship. 

S 2 Chron. 30:13-27. The Solemn Assembly 
S—Ps. 96:1-10 Joyous Worship. 

THOUGHTS ON NEXT SUNDAY’S LESSON. 

Gettmg back to the old-time religion—your 
mother's kind. 

Honor Mother’s Day by attending the Agoga 
Class, and discuss King Hezekiah, who led Israel 
back to God. 


The Agoga ticker 

Attendance last Sunday__ 90 

previous Sunday _ 98 

A year ago last Sunday_82 

Average attendance to date ..._ _ ___ 87 

" ** last year ___ 81 

Visitors_ _ i 7 

Daily Readers _ 14 

Offering last Sunday____I_... jii .14 


AGOGA DEGREES 

The First Degree—When you join the class. 

Num. 10:29-32. 

The Second Degree— When you “Get Another Man.” 
John 1:40-45. 

The Third Degree- When you get Agoga on your 
heart. John 16:1-14 

The Fourth Degree—When you join the Third Baptist 
Church Acts 2 .38-42 


B. Y. P. U. 

Tonight Group “O” has charge of the Young 
People’s meeting, Clifford Brown leading. Judge 
Hill will speak. 

This is the afternoon that we go to the Baptist 
Sanitarium to sing in. the wards and lead the 
Vesper Services. 


FIGURE 13 —AN INSIDE PAGE FROM AN 
EIGHT-PAGE CLASS PAPER 

















222 The Mens Class in Action 

iating daily Bible reading. There should also be 
a calendar of lesson courses. If space is limited 
the complete course titles may be published only at 
the beginning of the course, and the year’s outline 
at the beginning of the year. One large class regu¬ 
larly devotes an entire page of the bulletin to the 
lesson, giving the complete outline of the current 
study course by weeks, outline for the following 
Sunday lesson, Bible readings for the week, and 
frequent succinct comments on the lesson. The 
Reporter will frequently find points of interest in 
the lessons that he will want to publish the following 
week. One class regularly published a brief synop¬ 
sis of the lesson in the following week’s issue of the 
class paper. Especially in the case of special or vis¬ 
iting speakers before the class, there should be pub¬ 
lished a good write-up of the talk. 

The class bulletin is the ideal place for statistical 
information. Of first interest is the record of at¬ 
tendance and collection from week to week. In 
the Bulletin of the Agoga Class of Third Baptist 
Church, St. Louis, will be found the “Agoga 
Ticker,” under which head is tabulated the attend¬ 
ance for the two preceding Sundays, and the corre¬ 
sponding Sunday of the previous year; the average 
attendance to date and the last year’s average is 
given; there is a record of the offering for the last 
two weeks, the number of signed contributors, 


Advertising the Class 223 

number of members on time, number of visitors 
and the number of daily Bible readers. Another 
class includes the same information under the head 
of the “Pendulum.” Figures presented in this 
way can be studied by the members, who take pride 
in keeping the average up to standard. Quarterly, 
semi-annual and annual cumulations of statistics 
will be found interesting for purpose of comparison. 

It is stimulating to occasionally publish the names 
of those who are regular in attendance. One class 
did this monthly, listing those names under an 
Honor Roll. Names and interesting facts regard¬ 
ing any visitors present should also be included. 

As the primary purpose of the class is to win men 
for Christ, there should be space for short evan¬ 
gelistic items, and stories of members who accept 
Christ should be specially featured. In some classes 
the statistics regarding church members and those 
who make a profession of faith are grouped under 
the “Lighthouse Record.” 

The class paper should carry brief reports of offi¬ 
cers' meetings and class business meetings. The 
officers will want to put their plans before the class 
and the bulletin is the most satisfactory way of 
doing it. It is only in rare cases that a full repre¬ 
sentation of the class will be able to attend the reg¬ 
ular business meetings—hence the importance of in¬ 
forming the absentees of what transpired—the class 


224 The Mens Class in Action 

bulletin in that way ties up the entire class and keeps 
the members informed about the various activities. 
The Reporter will remember, though, that the paper 
is not a secretary’s minute book. His stories should 
contain only the essential facts of general interest 
to the class members or others among whom the 
paper circulates. 

In the class paper, too, will be published abstracts 
of such regular officers’ reports as contain matter 
of more than a routine nature. The Treasurer’s 
report should be published monthly—the reports of 
other officers may be used at less frequent intervals. 

Vacation time may be a period of a news famine 
or there may be an abundance of news, depending 
upon the cooperation the Reporter is able to secure. 
He should start early in the year to “hammer home” 
the importance of keeping the Reporter informed 
about vacation news. Those going on vacations 
should be urged to inform the Reporter when and 
where they are going, and also to write a letter or 
two while they are gone. 

Special articles are good for occasional publica¬ 
tion. At Thanksgiving time, the officers may be 
induced to write just twenty words on what they 
as class officers have to be thankful for. Members 
may be asked to write in fifty or seventy-five words 
“What the class means to me,” and “What the class 
has done for me,” the officers, the Pastor or the 


Advertising the Class 225 

Sunday School Superintendent may be requested to 
write special boosting articles from time to time. 

A' number of classes regularly publish their mem¬ 
bership roll on one page of the class paper. It is 
questionable whether that is just the best way to 
use costly space. Advertisements are also pub¬ 
lished by many classes, to cover the cost of printing. 
While it is preferable to have a paper without ad¬ 
vertising if possible, most class funds are insuffi¬ 
cient to do this. In most cases advertisements can 
be made to pay for the bulletin. The work of se¬ 
curing the ads is treated in more detail under the 
head of the Treasurer’s work. 

Special Editions 

It will occasionally be found desirable to issue spe¬ 
cial numbers of the class publication. For a num¬ 
ber of years a large men’s class published a rather 
pretentious annual edition of its class bulletin each 
June in celebration of Young Men’s Day. This 
edition was finely printed on coated stock, illustrated 
with pictures of the class, its officers, clubs and 
teams, and contained interesting articles about the 
class work in all its varied aspects. It was really 
a complete text book on the conduct of a young 
men’s class. Copies were kept on hand for distri¬ 
bution to new members during the year, and copies 
were always in demand among other classes. A 


226 The Mens Class in Action 


smaller class issued for a number of years special 
editions for its annual anniversary program; these 
contained data as to class organization, as well as 


Be a Character Builder 



W E think that conspicuous events, striking experiences, exalted moments, have 
most to do with our character and capacity We are wrong. Common 
days, monotonous hours, wearisome paths, plain old <ools, and every day 
clothes, tell the real story. Good habits are not made on birthdays, nor Christian char¬ 
acter at the new year. The workshop of character is every day life The uneventful 
and commonplace hour is where the battle is won or lost .”—Maltbie D. Babcock. 

You are invited to 

The Character Builders' Bible Class 

For Men 

Madison Heights Sunday-School 

Corner Monroe and Clay brook 

Services Sunday Mornings at 9:30 


FIGURE 14—ADVERTISING HANGER FOR USE IN STORES AND OTHER 
PLACES WHERE MEN CONGREGATE. 


historical matter. For the annual banquet, the spe¬ 
cial edition contained the menu, program and songs. 
At the Christmas and New Year season, a special 
edition containing matter appropriate to the time 
and also the report of the annual election was dis¬ 
tributed. 









Advertising the Class 227 





£> 


luilitra 




Address by D. M. Crawford delivered 
to Character Builders’ Class, Madison 
Heights M. E. Church, Oct. 31,1915 



FIGURE IS—REPRINT OF A SPECIAL ADDRESS USED FOR ADVER¬ 
TISING THE CLASS—ONE WAY FOR A CLASS TO 
GIVE “SAMPLES.” 








































228 The Mens Class in Action 


My Silent Partner 

A business man's story of something 
he has recently discovered 
in the Bible 

V 

By the author of 
“Finding God in Millersville’* 


Issued by 

The Character Builder Bible Class 
for Men 

Madison Heights M. E. Sunday-School 

Claybrook and Monroe Avenue 

Memphis/Tenn. 


FIGURE 1 6 —COVER OF AN ADVERTISING BOOKLET 






Advertising the Class 229 


VI: USING THE NEWSPAPERS 

The daily or weekly newspapers are a source of 
publicity that is often overlooked. In small towns, 
the weekly paper is glad to receive news of the class 
affairs—often this news is virtually the only real 
news in the paper. In cities where daily papers are 
published, space is also available for news items. 
The space granted will not be as large as in the 
smaller papers, but if the matter submitted has news 
value, that is if it may interest the public, it will be 
printed. A number of papers publish, once or 
twice a week, a religious column for this class of 
matter. Such items as elections, special programs, 
special courses of study on subjects of general in¬ 
terest, addresses by speakers of renown, and the like, 
are always acceptable. 

The Reporter will cooperate with all the other 
class officers in giving full publicity to the work of 
the class. He will assist the Vice-President in the 
advertising of membership campaigns; the Visitor 
in his Rally Day plans; the Entertainer on special 
plans, banquets, socials, receptions, etc.; the Teacher 
in special teaching plans, and the President in his 
evangelistic work. As long as the matter is news 
of general interest the newspapers are glad to pub¬ 
lish it. The Reporter should not fail to use this 
privilege. In writing up matter for the papers, 


230 The Mens Class in Action 

don’t try “fine” writing. Give the facts as clearly 
as possible, use a typewriter or write very legibly, 
and write only on one side of the paper. Address 
news items to the Religious Editor of larger papers, 
or the City Editor of smaller papers. 

News likely to be of interest to other classes 


WE WANT 

YOU 


FIGURE 17—“TICKLER”—FIRST OF A SERIES OF DIRECT MAIL PIECES. 

should by all means be sent to the state and other 
denominational papers; the denominational editors 
are specially anxious to receive information about 
new plans successfully worked by a class, or new 
applications given to old plans. It will often be 
possible to have the class picture published in the 
state paper or the class magazines issued by the 
publishing houses. 



Advertising the Class 231 


VII: GENERAL ADVERTISING 


Newspapers 

If the class can afford it, it will be a most excel¬ 
lent idea to buy a little newspaper space for a regular 
class advertisement. Such advertising will be of 


===We Want You ——— 

To Join the NEW 

MEN’S BIBLE CLASS 

of Vinita Park Methodist Sunday School 

First Session Will be Held 

Sunday, Nov. 13,1921,9:30 a.m. 

Complete details of the class will be presented at the 
Father and Son Banquet at the Church, Friday, Nov. 

11th (Armistice Day). Of course you will be there. 


FIGURE l8—SECOND PIECE OF A MAILING SERIES. 

little value if placed in metropolitan papers unless 
the class is centrally located and draws from the 
entire city for its membership or is located in the 
hotel district. In smaller cities such advertisements, 
well displayed and pleasingly written will be pro¬ 
ductive of good results. Well-handled advertising 
will not in any way detract from the dignity that 
one naturally expects in connection with a Bible 
Class. 




232 The Mens Class in Action 


Bulletins 

A well designed class bulletin board is an excellent 
advertisement. If well located, at railroad stations, 
electric car termini, near hotels, near parks where 
young men go to play ball, etc., many men will be 
sure to see the class message. If no locations of 
that sort are available, a board can always be located 
on the church property, provided it is dignified in 
its appearance. Copy on the board should be 
changed at frequent intervals. If a painted board 
is used, it should be repainted at least every six 
months. Let the board reflect the class—people 
will judge the class by it—keep it neat at all times. 

Direct Mail 

The live class will conduct regular direct mail 
campaigns for members. In such cases the Re¬ 
porter must work closely with the officers in charge, 
the Vice-President and Visitor. A choice list of 
prospects will be built up through the Vice-Presi¬ 
dent’s department. These men will be mailed let¬ 
ters, cards and circulars at frequent intervals. 
Study course outlines, printed on cards, make ef¬ 
fective mail pieces, and are also suitable for placing 
in stores where men can pick them up. 

Posters 

The Reporter may even place cards in barber 
shops and slides in picture shows. There is no 


Advertising the Class 233 


WE WANT 



Sunday', Nov. 13,1921, 

is to be an outstanding day 
in the history Vinita Park 
Methodist Sunday School. 

It will register the first session of a 
oMen’s Bible Class in our schooL 

We expect to enroll every man sf 
Protestant belief in the community. 

You know therefore we are going 
to get you “eventually', why' not 
now?” 



Be sure to attend the Father and Son Banquet at the Church. Friday. 
November 11th (Armistice Day), 7 o’clock, where full details will be 
announced. Supper 50c; everything else, including a good time; tree, 


FIGURE 10—THIRD PIECE OF A CLASS CAMPAIGN. 






234 The Mens Class in Action 

place where men are that the class should not make 
an effort to get them. Posters should be placed in 
prominent stores in the vicinity—if the class has 
members of artistic talents, they can readily make 
all the posters the class needs. 


WE WANT YOU 


When? 

Where? 


Sunday, November 13,1921,9:30 a. m 
Vinita Park Methodist Sunday School 


Why? 

Who? 


Opening Session of New Men’s Bible Class. 
You, and every other man in the community. 


WE WANT YOU 

Therefore You Will Not Stay Away 


JT WE WANT YOU abo to attend the Father and Son Banquet Pnday, November llth (Armistice D«n 
o'clock. If you haven t a too of your own adopt one far the accaaoa Supper 50c. everything else tree. 


FIGURE 20—FINAL PIECE OF A MAIL CAMPAIGN. 

Note that each piece tells the story differently from the others, but that 
the repetition of “We Want You" makes the effect cumulative. 


Printed Matter 

The Reporter will work closely with the other 
officers in planning circular matter that they need 
in their work. He is the man who has charge of 
everything pertaining to the use of printers’ ink. 
He will plan and have printed programs, menus, 






Advertising the Class 235 

tickets for entertainments, literature for the Vice- 
President, Visitor, Teacher, Entertainer or other 
officers needing special literature. Special forms 
will usually be planned by the particular officers 
needing them. 

It will be seen that the Reporter’s work is of 
equal importance to that of any other officer. If 
the Reporter is not awake and permits opportunity 
for publicity to pass unused, the class attendance 
will fall off, and the class itself will become just 
another class in one of the Sunday Schools. On 
the other hand, he can by judicious advertising, in¬ 
crease the influence of the class and make it the 
best known, most talked of institution in the com¬ 
munity. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Publicity Handbook for Southern Baptists— (Free). 
Reisner —“Church Advertising.” 

Barclay— “Adult Worker and His Work,” Chapter 
XIX. 

Blick— “The Adult Department,” Chapter VII. 
Pierce— “The Organized Adult Bible Class,” Appendix. 
Stelzle —“Principles of Successful Church Advertis¬ 
ing.” 

Scott— “The Theory of Advertising.” 

Ross—“The Writing of News.” 

Elliott —“How to Advertise a Church.” 

S. Roland Hall— “Writing an Advertisement.” 

S MI th—“C hurch and Sunday School Publicity.” 


234 The Mens Class in Action 

place where men are that the class should not make 
an effort to get them. Posters should be placed in 
prominent stores in the vicinity—if the class has 
members of artistic talents, they can readily make 
all the posters the class needs. 


WE WANT YOU 



.. Sunday, November 13,1921,9:30 a. m. 

5? Vinita Park Methodist Sunday School 
... Opening Session of New Men’s Bible Class. 

... You, and every other man in the community 


man in the community. 


WE WANT YOU 


Therefore You Will Not Stay Away 


C VE WANT TOO also lo attend the Father and Son Banquet. Friday. November tllh (Armiahce Dayt, 
o'clock. H you haven la too of your own adopt one far the axaaus Stiper 50c. everythin* clae bee. 


FIGURE 20—FINAL PIECE OF A MAIL CAMPAIGN. 

Note that each piece tells the story differently from the others, but that 
the repetition of “We Want You*’ makes the effect cumulative. 


Printed Matter 

The Reporter will work closely with the other 
officers in planning circular matter that they need 
in their work. He is the man who has charge of 
everything pertaining to the use of printers’ ink. 
He will plan and have printed programs, menus, 





Advertising the Class 235 

tickets for entertainments, literature for the Vice- 
President, Visitor, Teacher, Entertainer or other 
officers needing special literature. Special forms 
will usually be planned by the particular officers 
needing them. 

It will be seen that the Reporter’s work is of 
equal importance to that of any other officer. If 
the Reporter is not awake and permits opportunity 
for publicity to pass unused, the class attendance 
will fall off, and the class itself will become just 
another class in one of the Sunday Schools. On 
the other hand, he can by judicious advertising, in¬ 
crease the influence of the class and make it the 
best known, most talked of institution in the com¬ 
munity. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Publicity Handbook for Southern Baptists— (Free). 
Reisner —“Church Advertising.” 

Barclay— “Adult Worker and His Work,” Chapter 
XIX. 

Blick— “The Adult Department,” Chapter VII. 

Pierce —“The Organized Adult Bible Class, Appendix. 
Stelzle— “Principles of Successful Church Advertis¬ 
ing.” 

Scott— “The Theory of Advertising.” 

Ross—“The Writing of News.” 

Elliott— “How to Advertise a Church.” 

S. Roland Hall— “Writing an Advertisement.”^ 
Smith— “Church and Sunday School Publicity.” 


Appendix A 

ADDRESSES YOU NEED TO KNOW 

Abingdon Press (M. E.), 150 Fifth Ave., New 
York City. 

Association Press, 347 Madison Ave., New York. 

Erker Bros., 608 Olive St., St. Louis, Mo. (Lan¬ 
tern slides.) 

Friends’ General Conference, 150 N. 15th St., 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

International Sunday School Council of Religious 
Education, 1516 Mailers Building, Chicago, Ill. 

Judson Press (Northern Baptist), 1701-03 Chest¬ 
nut St., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Keystone View Co., Meadville, Pa. 

McKinley Publishing Co., 1619-1621 Ranstead 
St., Philadelphia, Pa. (Outline Maps.) 

National Motion Picture League, 381 Fourth 
Ave., New York, N. Y. (Information regarding 
films suitable for use in Churches.) 

The Perry Picture Company, Malden, Mass. 

The Pilgrim Press, 14 Beacon St., Boston, Mass. 

Religious Advertising Association, Columbia, 
South Carolina. 

Fleming H. Revell Company, 158 Fifth Ave., 
New York City. 

Charles Scribner’s Sons, 597-599 Fifth Ave., 
New York City. 

Sunday School Board, Southern Baptist Conven¬ 
tion, 161 Eighth Ave., N., Nashville, Tenn. 

University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill. 

Westminster Press, Witherspoon Bldg., Phila¬ 
delphia, Pa. 


237 


Appendix B 


SUGGESTIVE CONSTITUTION AND 
BY-LAWS 

ARTICLE I. NAME 

This class shall be known as the...Class 

of the.Sunday School of the... 

Church at. 

ARTICLE II. OBJECT AND MOTTO 

The object of this class shall be Bible study, 
Evangelism, Christian fellowship and the promo¬ 
tion of practical Christian living among men. The 
class motto shall be: “...” 

ARTICLE III. MEMBERSHIP 

Sec. i. Any man between the ages of 25 and 35 
may become a member of this class on presentation 
of name, and election by unanimous vote of the 
members present. 

Sec. 2. Any one desiring to encourage the work 
of this class may become an honorary member on 
presentation of name and election by unanimous 
vote. 

Sec. 3. No members are to be dropped from the 
class roll, until a thorough investigation of causes 
of absence has been made, and a unanimous recom¬ 
mendation to drop the name be made by the Execu¬ 
tive Committee. 


238 







Appendix B 


239 


ARTICLE IV. OFFICERS 

Sec. i. The officers of this class shall be the fol¬ 
lowing: Teacher, President, Vice-President, Secre¬ 
tary, Treasurer, Visitor, Librarian, Entertainer, and 
Reporter. 

Sec. 2. These nine shall constitute an Executive 
Board. They shall have general supervision of the 
work of the class and shall have power to fill all 
vacancies between elections. Any five members of 
this board shall constitute a quorum. 

ARTICLE V. ASSISTANTS 

Sec. i. The Executive Board shall meet within 
one week after their election, and shall select mem¬ 
bers of the class to serve with the officers as assist¬ 
ants. 

Sec. 2. In making these selections, effort shall 
be made to assign, as far as practicable, every mem¬ 
ber of the class to duty as assistant to one or more 
of the officers. 

ARTICE VI. DUTIES OF OFFICERS 

Sec. i. The Teacher shall have charge of all 
educational work of the class, and be advisor and 
friend to every member. He shall be consulted on 
all matters of importance. 

Sec. 2. The President shall preside ac all meet¬ 
ings of the class, have the direction of the personal 
work, and devotional interests, and be the general 
class executive. He is also chairman of the Execu¬ 
tive Board. 

Sec. 3. The Vice-President shall have charge of 


240 The Mens Class in Action 

membership increase. He shall secure new mem¬ 
bers and introduce them to the other members of 
the class. He shall also act as President in that 
officer’s absence. 

Sec. 4. The Secretary shall have charge of the 
class records. He shall keep a roll of the mem¬ 
bers, preserve minutes of all meetings, mark the 
records, and attend to all business correspondence. 

Sec. 5. The Treasurer shall have charge of all 
moneys. He shall see after the regular and special 
contributions, and shall seek to promote the grace 
of liberality. 

Sec. 6. The Visitor shall have charge of class 
visitation. He shall look after absent members, and 
shall also aid members in securing employment. 

Sec. 7. The Librarian shall have charge of the 
class library. He shall see to the distribution of 
Bibles, song books and papers, shall seek to promote 
the reading of wholesome literature, and preserve 
a file of class publications and other printed matter. 

Sec. 8. The Entertainer shall have charge of 
class recreation. He shall arrange for music, so¬ 
cials, receptions, lectures, athletics, and the like. 

Sec. 9. The Reporter shall have charge of class 
advertising. He shall see that due announcement 
is made of all meetings, and that items of interest 
are furnished to the papers. He shall also have 
charge of the editing of any class papers or the like. 

ARTICLE VII. MEETINGS 

Sec. 1. This class shall be a constituent part of 
the Sunday-school, subject to its rules and regula¬ 
tions, and shall meet at the regular Sunday-school 
hour, unless such other arrangement be made as 


Appendix B 241 

shall meet with the approval of the Superintendent 
and Pastor. 

Sec. 2. Other meetings may be held as arranged 
by a vote of the class or by the Executive Board. 

Sec. 3. A meeting may be called at any time by 
any five members of the Executive Board, provided 
notice be given at a previous Sunday meeting. 

Sec. 4. A business meeting shall be held as often 
as every three months. 

ARTICLE VIII. ELECTIONS 

Sec. 1. Officers shall be elected annually, in the 
month of September, and elections shall be by ma¬ 
jority vote. 

Sec. 2. The Superintendent and Pastor shall be 
consulted in regard to choice of the Teacher, and 
his election shall be subject to their approval. 

Sec. 3. The new officers shall be inaugurated at 
the regular business meeting following their elec¬ 
tion, and shall assume their duties at that time. 

Sec. 4. Aliy officer shall be subject to removal 
from office upon two-thirds vote of the members 
present at any regular Sunday morning service or 
regular Get-together meeting, notice having been 
given at a previous regular Sunday morning service 
or regular Get-together meeting, and copy of same 
sent to officer in question. 

ARTICLE IX. FINANCES 

Sec. 1. This class shall contribute of its means 
in accordance with the financial plans of the Sun¬ 
day-school. 

Sec. 2. This class may also raise additional sums 


242 The Mens Class in Action 


of money for the prosecution of their work as a 
class. 


ARTICLE X. AMENDMENTS 

This Constitution may be amended by a two- 
thirds vote of those present at a duly authorized 
business meeting of the class, provided notice of 
such amendment shall have been given at such previ¬ 
ous meeting. 


BY-LAWS 

(These By-Laws are those adopted by one par¬ 
ticular class of men, and will hardly be suited to 
other classes just as they stand. They do, however, 
indicate the scope of the By-Laws.) 

ARTICLE I. MEMBERSHIP 

Sec. i. Any young man, 25 to 35 years of age, 
wishing to become a member of this class, may do 
so after two consecutive Sundays' attendance, upon 
presentation of his name and election by unanimous 
vote of those members present. 

Sec. 2. New members may be voted in at any 
regular Sunday morning service or at any regular 
class business meeting. 

ARTICLE II. OFFICERS 

Sec. 1. Each officer shall make a written report 
at every Get-together meeting of the work accom¬ 
plished during the previous month. 


Appendix B 


243 


ARTICLE III. MEETINGS 

Sec. i. The class shall have a Get-together meet¬ 
ing the third Tuesday in each month. These Get- 
together meetings shall be for the purpose of carry¬ 
ing on the business of the class, for furnishing 
entertainment, and for promoting sociability among 
the members. Twenty-five per cent of the resident 
membership shall constitute a quorum for the trans¬ 
action of business at any class meeting. 

Sec. 2. There shall be a meeting of the Execu¬ 
tive Board at least once a month. 

Sec. 3. Each officer shall call a meeting of his 
assistants at least every three months. 

ARTICLE IV. ELECTIONS 

Sec. 1. The annual election of officers shall be 
held at the September Get-together meeting. 

Sec. 2. All elections shall be by ballot. 

ARTICLE V. FINANCES 

Sec. 1. Each member shall be expected to con¬ 
tribute, if financially able, twenty-five cents per 
month as dues, for carrying on the class work. 

Sec. 2. The usual Sunday-school offering shall 
be taken each Sunday, and turned in to the School 
Treasurer. 

ARTICLE VI. ORDER OF BUSINESS 

Sec. 1. The business of this class shall be con¬ 
ducted according to the following order: 


244 


The Mens Class in Action 

1. Prayer. 

2. Roll call. 

3. Reading of minutes. 

4. Reports of officers. 

5. Unfinished business. 

6. New business. 

7. Adjournment. 

ARTICLE VII. AMENDMENTS 

Sec. 1. These By-Laws may be suspended at any 
regular class meeting by a two-thirds majority vote 
of those present. 

Sec. 2. These By-Laws may be amended at any 
regular class meeting by a two-thirds majority of 
those present, notice having been given at a previous 
regular meeting. 


Appendix C 


A SUGGESTED STANDARD OF 
EXCELLENCE 

(Some of the Boards have denominational 
Standards of Excellence. The Class Officers 
should strive to meet such standard.) 

I. Organization 

(a) The class shall have the following officers 
with duties as specified: 

T eacher—Instruction. 

President—Executive and Religious. 
Vice-President—Membership Increase. 
Secretary—Records. 

T reasurer—Finances. 

Visitor—Holding membership. 

Librarian—Literature. 

Entertainer—Social Life. 

Reporter—Publicity. 

It is not necessary that the officers be known by 
these particular names, but the work should be cov¬ 
ered as indicated. 

(b) The Class shall be definitely connected with 
the Sunday School. 

(c) The Class shall meet with the Senior or 
Adult Department of the school, either in the en¬ 
tire opening or closing worship service, according 
to the rule of the school. 

(d) The Class shall be enrolled with the denom- 

V ' 245 


246 The Mens Class in Action 

inational board, and shall display the class standard 
and certificate of enrollment. 

(e) Age limits—18-25i 25-35; 35 and up. 

(f) All offerings of the class shall be made into 
the treasury of the main school for general expenses, 
and for benevolences fostered by the school, except 
when the management of the school shall agree that 
a certain per cent of the offerings shall be kept in 
the class treasury, which shall never be more than 
twenty-five per cent (25%). 

(g) The Teacher shall hold a New Standard 
Teacher Training Diploma, or possess equivalent 
training, or should be regularly pursuing this course. 
Adult specialization units should be included in the 
training work. 

(h) The Teacher shall be uniformly punctual, 
with average attendance at least eighty-five per cent 
(85%). If to be absent, shall notify the depart¬ 
ment superintendent in time for a substitute to be 
secured. 

(i) The class shall have its own room, isolated 
by walls or solid partitions, and properly furnished. 

II. Service 

(a) Bibles, and not “helps,” shall be used in reci¬ 
tation of the lesson. 

(b) The attendance shall average at least one- 
half the enrollment, in lieu of which, all absentees 
must be communicated with each week. 

(c) The annual membership increase shall be not 
less than 15 per cent of the active membership. 
Newly organized classes, week-day classes, or addi¬ 
tions to the Home Department of the Sunday School 
through class efforts may count toward this per¬ 
centage. 


Appendix C 247 

(d) The class shall foster the work of Teacher 
Training, study classes or reading courses of the 
denomination, with a view to larger Christian 
service. 

(e) 50 per cent of the class membership at preach¬ 
ing services. 

(f) Definite, personal evangelistic efforts. 

(g) Class membership urged to cooperate with 
the Church benevolences according to the Church 
plan. 

(h) Some definite Christian work in the com¬ 
munity. 


THE END 













































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